OBITUARIES

Dorothy V. Newman, age 79, of Albion passed away Thursday August 28, 2008 at her residence. She was born August 25, 1929 in Albion, Michigan to Russell and Vivian Gertrude (Peck) Vaughn. On November 11, 1949, she was married to Paul Matt Newman in Albion, Michigan.

She has been a resident of the Albion area all of her life, she was employed as a secretary for some time until her children were born and then she became a full time homemaker. She enjoyed and loved abandoned animals of all kinds; she also enjoyed traveling especially to the Rocky Mountains and the Upper Peninsula. But her most enjoyment in life was her Children and Grandchildren.

She is survived by her husband, Paul of Albion; son, Paul Russell (Ellen Marie) Newman of Albion; daughter, Leslie Jean (Jeff) Hale of Springport; five grandchildren, Sarah, Cathy, and Mike Newman, Nathan and Brandon Hale; two great grandchildren, Ethan and Chloe Berrington; 1 brother, Yale Vaughn of Florida; two sisters, Jane Ellen Vaughn of Grants Pass, Oregon and Margaret Ann Vaughn of Roseburg, Oregon.

She was preceded in death by her parents. Russell and Vivian Vaughn; Stepmother LaVell Vaughn; and 2 Brothers Vic and Jim Vaughn.

Visitation for friends and family will be Monday, September 1 from 2 -4 and 6 – 8 p.m. at the Erie Street Chapel of the J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Home, 208 West Erie Street Albion.

Funeral Services will be Tuesday, September 2 at 11 a.m. at the Erie Street Chapel of the J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Home with Rev. Jim Cobb officiating. Burial will follow at Riverside Cemetery- Albion.

Assistance with Memorials Contributions to: Lifespan-Good Samaritan Hospice, D.A.V.;or St. Stephens Indian Mission is available at the Erie Street Chapel of J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Home.

Arrangements made by the J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Homes. For more information, call (517) 629-9155. Also see the website at: www.jktiddfuneralhome.com

Renee Lynne Desy, age 42, of Albion, passed away Thursday August 28, 2008 at Allegiance Health Systems in Jackson. She was born April 24, 1966 in Marshall, Michigan to Larry and Mary (French) Desy.

She was a 1984 graduate of Albion High School and while at Albion High School she participated at the state level as a diver for swimming. She was an office manager for Dr. Lorna Pinson’s Doctors office in Jackson. She enjoyed horseback riding, barrel racing, her dog, reading, and spending time on the beach.

She is survived by her daughter, Ashley Desy of Jackson; grandson Braedon Collicott of Jackson; father, Larry(Dawn) Desy of Jackson; mother, Mary Desy of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota; brother, Mark Desy of Homer; sister, Kelley Desy of Albion; maternal grandmother, Delores French of Brooklyn, Minnesota; and niece, McKenna Cornell of Albion.

Visitation for family and friends will be Mondayn September 1 from 2 -4 and 6 – 8 p.m. at the Erie Street Chapel of the J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Home, 208 West Erie Street Albion.

Funeral Services will be Tuesday September 2 at 3 p.m. at the Christ Lutheran Church- Michigan Center with Rev. Jim Watson officiating.

Assistance with Memorial Contributions to: American Cancer or Mission of Hope-Jackson is available at the Erie Street Chapel of J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Home.

Arrangements made by the J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Homes. For more information, call (517) 629-9155. Also see the website at: www.jktiddfuneralhome.com

GOERING RETROSPECTIVE, WESTERMANN EARLY WORKS OPEN ALBION COLLEGE EXHIBITION SEASON

Rarely seen works from noted American sculptor H.C. Westermann and emeritus professor Doug Goering open Albion College’s 2008-09 Art and Art History exhibition season. Both shows open Tuesday, Sept. 2 and run through Saturday, Oct. 18, in Albion College’s Bobbitt Visual Arts Center. A reception for Goering will be held Saturday, Sept. 6, from 1 to 4 p.m.

The Goering retrospective, “Marking Time,” features works from the mid-1960s to 2008. The paintings, mostly abstracts, “deal with issues of perception,” say Goering, whose work encourages reflection on the part of the viewer to discover a range of meaning in his art. Goering retired from Albion’s Art department earlier this year, and is enjoying the additional time to paint.

The work of artist H.C. Westermann “totally changed the way artists look at sculpture and studying art,” says Albion College junior Rudy Aronoff, of the exhibit of “Tradition and Resistance.” Aronoff along with junior Hannah Trager and Art and Art History department chair Bille Wickre, spent the summer to create the exhibition, drawn from a large private collection owned by Albion alumnus Joel Leenaars, ‘57.

While a student at the Chicago institute and during his early professional years, Westermann shared an apartment with Leenaars. And while Westermann is noted primarily as a sculptor, the Albion exhibition “shows Westermann in “a classic formal art education, and then breaking away in his own ideas and identity as an artist,” said Aronoff. “This exhibition is a great background for understanding his sculpture, and it’s the only collection in existence. These pieces are a totally different side of Westermann that nobody’s really seen before.”

The Goering and Westermann exhibits are both free and open to the public. The Bobbitt Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. All exhibitions are free and open to the public; for more information, please contact Susan Havens at (517) 629-0246, or via e-mail at shavens@albion.edu.

VP pick Palin makes appeal to women voters – Alaska governor to be first female Republican vice presidential nominee

DAYTON, Ohio – Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain introduced his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, at a raucous rally Friday, praising her “tenacity” and “skill” in tackling tough problems.

“She is exactly who this country needs to help us fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second,” McCain told supporters in Dayton.

Palin, who becomes the first woman to serve on a GOP presidential ticket and the first Alaskan to appear on a national ticket, echoed McCain’s appeal to battle the status quo in Washington.
“This is a matter when principles … matter more than the party line,” she said to the cheering crowd of 15,000.

Palin made an immediate play for support from Democratic women, mentioning that she followed in the footsteps of Geraldine Ferraro, who was the Democratic vice presidential running mate in 1984.

She also referred favorably to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who drew 18 million votes in her unsuccessful run against Obama for the Democratic nomination.

“But it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all,” she said.

Surprising choice

Palin’s selection was a stunning surprise, as McCain passed over many other better-known prospects, some of whom had been the subject of intense speculation for weeks or months.

At 44, she is a generation younger than Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, who is Barack Obama’s running mate on the Democratic ticket.

She is three years Obama’s junior, as well, and McCain has made much in recent weeks of Obama’s relative lack of experience in foreign policy and defense matters.

Unlike Biden, who attacked McCain sharply in his debut last week, Palin was indirect in her initial attempts to elevate McCain over Obama.

“There is only one candidate who has truly fought for America and that man is John McCain,” she said as the Arizona senator beamed. McCain was a prisoner of war for more than five years in Vietnam.

Palin has a strong anti-abortion record, and her selection was praised warmly by social conservatives whose support McCain needs to prevail in the campaign for the White House.

“It’s an absolutely brilliant choice,” said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. “This will absolutely energize McCain’s campaign and energize conservatives,” he predicted.

Palin was elected Alaska’s first woman governor in 2006, defeating Gov. Frank Murkowski in the GOP primary.

“I’ve been blessed with the right timing here,” Palin said before the election. “There’s no doubt that Alaskans right now are dealing in an atmosphere of distrust of government and industry.”

She has proven to be a popular leader. Eighty percent of the state’s voters gave her a “somewhat favorable” or “very favorable” rating in a July 2008 poll.

On Aug. 1, Palin scored a major victory when the Alaska Legislature passed a bill that authorizes her administration to award a license to TransCanada Alaska to build a 1,715-mile natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope to a hub in Canada.

The pipeline would be the largest construction project in the history of North America. If completed as hoped within 10 years, it would ship 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. The United States imported about 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in 2007.

Under investigation for firing
But Palin’s seemingly bright future was clouded in late July when the state Legislature voted to hire an independent investigator to find out whether she tried to have a state official fire her ex-brother-in-law from his job as a state trooper.

The allegation was made by former Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, whom Palin fired in mid-July.

“It is a governor’s prerogative, a right, to fill that Cabinet with members whom she or he believes will do best for the people whom we are serving,” Palin told CNBC’s Larry Kudlow in an interview on Aug. 1. “So I look forward to any kind of investigation or questions being asked because I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Palin also reacted to the indictment of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens by calling it “very dismaying.” She added, “Hopefully though, this won’t be a distraction and get people’s minds off what has to be done in the grand scheme of things.”

As for the prospect of her being vice president, Palin told Kudlow that she could not answer the question of whether she wanted the job “until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day. I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here.”

‘Hail Mary pass’
Democrats pounced on the news that McCain chose Palin, characterizing the move as a gamble.

“After the great success of the Democratic convention, the choice of Sarah Palin is surely a Hail Mary pass,” New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said. “Certainly the choice of Palin puts to rest any argument about inexperience on the Democratic team.”

But conservatives praised her anti-abortion credentials.

“Sarah Palin is a pleasant surprise for those of us who had hoped that Senator McCain would pick a principled and authentic conservative pro-life leader,” former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said.

Huckabee also used the Palin pick to reach out to women.

“Governor Palin … will remind women that if they are not welcome on the Democrat’s ticket, they have a place with Republicans,” he said.

Democrats pounced on the news that McCain chose Palin, characterizing the move as a gamble.

“After the great success of the Democratic convention, the choice of Sarah Palin is surely a Hail Mary pass,” New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said. “Certainly the choice of Palin puts to rest any argument about inexperience on the Democratic team.”

But conservatives praised her anti-abortion credentials.

“Sarah Palin is a pleasant surprise for those of us who had hoped that Senator McCain would pick a principled and authentic conservative pro-life leader,” former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said.

Huckabee also used the Palin pick to reach out to women.

“Governor Palin … will remind women that if they are not welcome on the Democrat’s ticket, they have a place with Republicans,” he said.

Palin is married to Todd Palin, a lifelong Alaskan who is a production operator on the North Slope and a four-time champion of the Iron Dog, which is described as “the world’s longest snow-machine race.”

They have five children. Their son Track enlisted in the U.S. Army on Sept. 11, 2007.

Palin gave birth to their fifth child, Trig, last April. The baby boy has Down syndrome, a genetic abnormality that impedes a child’s intellectual and physical development.

“When we first heard, it was kind of confusing,” Palin said, according to an account in the Anchorage Daily News. She called the news “very, very challenging.”

But she also related what she thought God would say to her family about her son: “Children are the most precious and promising ingredient in this mixed-up world you live in down there on Earth. Trig is no different, except he has one extra chromosome.”

Palin made a name for herself in Alaska politics by serving as mayor of Wasilla for six years and going on to run unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2002.

After her unsuccessful run, Palin received an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, where she ended up serving a role in an ethics probe into Republican Party Chairman Randy Reudrich, who was questioned about conflicts of interest with the oil industry.

The investigation ultimately forced Reudrich to resign from the commission.

Palin’s role in the investigation left her a party outsider, but she was able to win the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary against Murkowski, going on to win the general election by 7 points over her Democratic opponent.

During one debate before the primary, Palin said she was in favor of capital punishment in especially heinous cases such as the murder of a child. “My goodness, hang ‘em up, yeah,” she said. Palin opposes abortion rights.

Born in Idaho, Palin moved to Alaska with her parents in 1964, when they went to teach school.

She received a degree in communications and journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987.

GOVERNMENT OFFICES, POST OFFICE, LIBRARY CLOSED FOR LABOR DAY HOLIDAY

Albion City Hall, the Albion Economic Development Corporation, Albion Downtown Development Authority, Albion Post Office and Albion District Library will be closed on Monday, September 1 in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

They will reopen again at their regular times on Tuesday, September 2.

John Anthony La Pietra * For the People * County Clerk-Register

John Anthony La Pietra
* For the People *
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org
jalp@triton.net

News Release * August 29, 2008

Voting for Pizza? Clerk Candidate Offers
Five Ways to Pick Your Favorite Toppings
========================================
La Pietra Will Bring Alternative-Methods Trial
to “Rock the Vote” at KCC Tuesday, September 2

John Anthony La Pietra, the Green Party of Michigan
(GPMI) candidate for Calhoun County Clerk-Register
of Deeds, will offer people attending [next] Tuesday’s
“Rock the Vote” event at Kellogg Community College
a chance to try out five different voting methods –
with a tasty twist: the subject of the vote will be
everyone’s favorite pizza toppings.

Voters at the event at KCC’s Student Center (450 North
Avenue, Battle Creek) will get to compare:

* The traditional US plurality system. In this, the
highest vote-getter wins no matter how low that
top total is. (With six choices on the ballot,
plus a space for write-ins, the winner could have
less than 20% of the total votes.)

* A two-round plurality system, also often used here.
If no choice wins an absolute majority, the top
two finishers have to campaign and compete again
in a runoff election. That’s expensive and time-
consuming, but at least you know the winner will
have a majority of the votes cast in the runoff.

* Approval voting. Here, voters mark their ballots
for candidates they approve — and they can vote
for as many choices as they want to. Again, the
choice with the most votes wins.
In a slightly different system called range
voting, voters can assign scores of (for example)
1-10 to show how much they approve of each choice,
and a 0 or no vote at all to show disapproval.
The highest total or average score wins.

* Cumulative voting. Each voter gets a certain number
of votes, and can distribute them among the choices
or lump them all together for one choice or a few
choices. Again, the winner is the choice with the
most total votes.

* Instant-runoff voting (IRV). Here, you can rank as
many choices as you like: 1 for your favorite, 2
for your second choice, and so on. If no candidate
has a majority, shift each votes for the last-place
candidate to that voter’s next choice. Repeat until
someone has over 50% of the remaining votes and wins.
You can also turn the ranking system upside down,
and make it look more like a sports poll: 10 for
the top choice, 9 for second place, and so on. If
we do this, the highest score is the winner.

The ballot also asks voters to rank the five methods.
John will tabulate all the results, and announce them,
by Friday.

How did John pick pizza toppings as the subject of his
demonstration? “I’d seen a brochure from the Center
for Voting and Democracy using pizza toppings as an
example of something a bunch of people with different
views might need to decide.

“When I found out about KCC’s ‘Rock the Vote’ event,
bringing pizza toppings into the discussion seemed like
a natural fit. Especially for a La Pietra.”

Unfortunately, John can’t afford to use actual pizzas
to measure people’s preferences. “Or ice cream — that’s
what the Ferndale _Mirror_ used as an example when that
city was considering a charter amendment on IRV.”

“There might be 50 ways to pick your pizza,” smiles John.
“This trial can’t cover them all. But I invite people to
come try these five methods — and talk about others, like
proportional representation and range voting.

“Some we may recognize from other areas of decision-making
and ranking preferences, like sports polls or Hall of Fame
voting. Some we may see used in other parts of the world.
And some we may decide we like, and want to use more often;
state law lets cities decide to use preferential balloting,
and Ferndale did that when it adopted IRV.”

John concludes, “The more we know about these different
voting methods and how they affect the result, the better
prepared we will be to think of and apply the best
decision-making tools in our governments and our lives.”

[================================================]

Wikipedia’s “Politics and the Election” series includes
this page which offers a good introduction to a number of
voting methods, as well as a link to a discussion of
consensus decision-making:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_system

The Center for Voting and Democracy’s “pizza principle”
flyer is at:

http://www.FairVote.org/media/pep/pizza.pdf

You can read a column John wrote for the former Marshall
_Review_ newspaper in January 2002 about some aspects of
different methods of voting, by following these links:

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/voting_column.html
[standard Web page]
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/voting_column.pdf
[Adobe Acrobat format]

A one-page Adobe Acrobat PDF file with two copies of the
ballot John will bring to “Rock the Vote” at KCC can be
seen at

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/voting4pizza_x2.pdf

If you want to contact John’s campaign and find out what
you can do to help elect a Calhoun County Clerk-Register
For the People, please feel free to visit the Website

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org

e-mail

jalp@triton.net

or call

269-781-9478

For more information on the Green Party of Michigan and its
other candidates, including eight more that Calhoun County
voters will see on the November 4 ballot, contact

Green Party of Michigan
548 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://www.MIGreens.org
info@MIGreens.org
734-663-3555

# # #

prepared and distributed
(with donated labor) by

John Anthony La Pietra
* For the People *
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org

La Pietra Will “Go the Extra Mile” on Labor Day

John Anthony La Pietra
* For the People *
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org
jalp@triton.net

News Release * August 27, 2008

La Pietra Will “Go the Extra Mile” on Labor Day
===============================================
Green Candidate for Calhoun County Clerk-Register
Will Visit Marshall’s Monuments to Union’s Founding
Right After Rec Department’s “Virtual Bridge Walk”

9th Straight Year of Honoring the Origin of the Day

John Anthony La Pietra, the Green Party of Michigan
(GPMI) candidate for Calhoun County Clerk-Register
of Deeds, will “go the extra mile” again this year
to keep Labor Day — to celebrate it — as a day
honoring labor.

This year, John will join the “Virtual Bridge Walk”
held by the Marshall Recreation Department starting
at the Public Services Building at 9am. He will
complete the five-mile course, laid out to cross
a dozen bridges (emulating the annual Labor Day
Mackinac Bridge crossing).

Then, as he has done for the past eight years, John
will keep walking and visit Marshall’s two historic
sites tied directly to labor — specifically, to the
railroad workers’ union known as the Brotherhood of
the Footboard when it was founded in 1863 . . . in
Marshall.

That name didn’t last long; the next year, it changed
to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. But the
union itself endured — and endures today, now as a
division of the Rail Conference of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The house where the union was born, home to founder
Jared C. “Yankee” Thompson, still stands too — though
it has been moved to 633 West Hanover (at the corner
of Linden). One of Marshall’s 44 state historical
markers is there.

And eighty years after its founding, the union put up
a stone monument on the home’s original site — a small
triangular spit of land where East Drive, East Mansion
Street, and Michigan Avenue meet.

The same location also boasts a plaque to another piece
of what could be called Marshall’s “labor” history: the
1847 Crosswhite Incident, where city residents helped
protect an escaped slave from agents of his former owner.

John will start his “extra mile” tour there, reading from
the two monuments before heading downtown. On the way to
the Thompson home, he will also stop at the Marshall Peace
Park (on the south side of Michigan Avenue, a block and a
half east of the Fountain Circle).

Time and weather permitting, John will show respect for
those who have labored before — by cleaning up the
monument site and the park.

“Michigan has a total of fifteen entries in the Inventory
of American Labor Landmarks, and two of them are right
here in Marshall,” John notes. “Calhoun County is a place
where it’s still possible to remember what Labor Day is
all about.

“I welcome anyone who is willing to join me in taking time
to honor the benefits grassroots organized laborers have
brought all of us . . . everything from safer workplaces to
workdays and -weeks short enough to leave some precious time
for an actual family life — *For the People*.”

[================================================]

A Marshall Recreation Department brochure giving the
turn-by-turn route for this year’s five-mile “Virtual
Bridge Walk” is available on line at

http://www.cityofmarshall.com/reference/refdocs/2204-

Labor_Day_Walk_brochure.pdf

You can read a column John wrote for the former Marshall
_Review_ newspaper about his 2002 Labor Day walk, and other
alternative ways to celebrate the holiday, by following
these links:

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/LaborDay_column.html
[standard Web page]
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/LaborDay_column.pdf
[Adobe Acrobat format]

For the full list of Michigan’s Labor Landmarks, see

http://www.laborheritage.org/IALL-MI.html

A picture of the Thompson home that was the birthplace of
the “Brotherhood of the Footboard” (later the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers) can be seen at

http://www.michmarkers.com/pages/L0282.htm

If you want to contact John’s campaign and find out what
you can do to help elect a Calhoun County Clerk-Register
For the People, please feel free to visit the Website

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org

e-mail

jalp@triton.net

or call

269-781-9478

For more information on the Green Party of Michigan and its
other candidates, including eight more that Calhoun County
voters will see on the November 4 ballot, contact

Green Party of Michigan
548 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://www.MIGreens.org
info@MIGreens.org
734-663-3555

# # #

prepared and distributed
(with donated labor) by

John Anthony La Pietra
* For the People *
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org

Quote of the Day

> Help me in boycotting Anheuser-Busch since they sold out to
> a foreign company.
>
> Drop your beer off at my house and I will dispose of it.
> We’ll teach those bastards a lesson.

John Anthony La Pietra * For the People * County Clerk-Register

John Anthony La Pietra
* For the People *
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org
jalp@triton.net

News Release * August 26, 2008

La Pietra Issues Statement on Women’s Equality Day
==================================================
Green Candidate for Calhoun County Clerk-Register Notes
Party’s Historic Presidential Ticket: Two Women of Color

Presidential Candidate McKinney Built Her Acceptance Speech
Around the Framework of Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?”

3 Other Female Candidates in Green Column on County Ballots

On this date in 1920, women won the right to vote throughout
the United States. That one step opened the door to democracy
for the half of our population who had been excluded from
electing our nation’s leaders.

88 years after that historic day, this nation has its first
Presidential ticket with two women of color: Congresswoman
Cynthia McKinney and hip-hop political activist, journalist,
and scholar Rosa Clemente. I am proud to be a member, and
a candidate, of the party which has taken this new historic
step: the Green Party.

I am proud to run with them — and with three other women
on the Green Party column:

* Lynn Meadows, our candidate for the 7th District seat
in Congress;

* Therese Storm, seeking a seat on the MSU Board of
Trustees; and

* Margaret Guttshall, running for Wayne State University
Board of Governors.

In accepting the Green Party’s nomination for President,
Congresswoman McKinney hearkened back to a great speech by
another woman — one who is well-known in Calhoun County.

On May 29, 1851, at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in
Akron, Sojourner Truth gave her “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech.
She started by pointing out, “Well, children, where there
is so much racket, there must be something out of kilter.”

Things are still out of kilter in this country. Women may
now be equal with men in terms of access (or lack of access)
to the polls. But they still have to fight for equality in
many other areas — to achieve it, or to protect it where
it has been achieved.

The Green Party of Michigan joins in that fight. Feminism
is one of the party’s Ten Key Values. The preamble to our
state platform defines it this way:

Greens are feminists, which means that we believe
in the equality of women and men (regardless of sexual
orientation). By extension, it also means that we
affirm the right of all people to self-definition.
Each person has the right to choose a culture, and to
exhibit all (legal) aspects of its corresponding
lifestyle.

And we support a range of policies that promote this value.

Congresswoman McKinney will be in Michigan all this weekend.
Most of her scheduled events so far will be in Detroit. She
will speak at the International Institute Saturday evening,
and at the National Welfare Rights Union awards dinner Sunday
night. And she will march in Detroit’s Labor Day parade.

There is a possibility that Congresswoman McKinney will come
to Battle Creek, either this weekend or later during the
campaign. If she does, I will introduce her to Sojourner
Truth — in Monument Park.

I visited the park last night — after speaking briefly to
the Harper Creek school board and at a meeting of Battle
Creek Voices of Peace across the street from the park at
Battle Creek First United Methodist Church.

A plaque there commemorates the dedication of Tina Allen’s
sculpture of Sojourner Truth September 25, 1999. I read
the plaque — and took its final words to heart: “It is
for each of us who stand here to carry on the work of truth.”

I aim to do that in my small way with my campaign for Clerk-
Register. And McKinney-Clemente takes that duty seriously,
too — one address for their Website is VoteTruth08.org.

One statement McKinney quotes on that site said:

For the twelve years that I stood in Washington,
DC in the United States Congress, I stood for dignity
for our workers, freedom for our people, security
for our seniors, education for our children, oppor-
tunity for our community and peace in the rest of the
world. But there was no room inside the Democratic
Party, nor the Republican Party, nor the halls of
power for people who want truth and peace and justice.
And thank goodness, 20 years ago some people had the
wisdom to create a new political party where people
who share out values can call home, and that is the
Green Party. We need substantive political change.

It was Frederick Douglass who said that power
concedes nothing without a demand, and we need to
organize ourselves to put that demand forward. We
have to search out the truth, search out justice,
to stand for peace, think analytically, think
critically, and vote independently.

Sojourner Truth ended her most famous speech by saying,
“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to
turn the world upside down all alone, these women together
ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up
again!”

People of Calhoun County, your courage, your support, and
your votes can help turn this world and this country of
ours right-side up again.

You can help these women — Cynthia McKinney, Rosa Clemente,
Lynn Meadows, Therese Storm, and Margaret Guttshall — help
us all to achieve equality for men and women . . . and reach
and restore the other American values that have been missing
in recent years. Values that turn out to be the Ten Key
Values of the Green Party.

I’ll do my part as best I can — even though I ain’t a woman.
And if you give me your support and your votes, it’ll be a
bigger part — *For the People*.

[================================================]

A slightly modernized text of Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a
Woman?” speech is available on line at (among other places)

http://en.WikiSource.org/wiki/Ain%27t_I_a_Woman%3F

A transcript of Cynthia McKinney’s acceptance speech to the
Green Party of the United States convention in Chicago on
July 12, 2008 can be found at (again, among other places)

http://www.NowPublic.com/world/McKinney-s-acceptance-speech-Green-Party-nomination

To contact John’s campaign for Calhoun County Clerk-Register,
please feel free to e-mail

jalp@triton.net

or call

269-781-9478

For more information on the Green Party of Michigan and its
other candidates, including eight more that Calhoun County
voters will see on the November 4 ballot, contact

Green Party of Michigan
548 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://www.MIGreens.org
info@MIGreens.org
734-663-3555

# # #

prepared and distributed
(with donated labor) by

John Anthony La Pietra
* For the People *
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org

*===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===*

Green Party of Michigan
=======================
2008 Candidates — Calhoun County

Federal-level candidates
========================
Cynthia McKinney — President / Rosa Clemente — Vice President
Power to the People Committee
Cynthia McKinney for President
P.O. Box 311759
Atlanta, GA 31131-1759
http://www.VoteTruth08.com
http://www.RosaClemente.com
John Judge, Press Secretary

Harley Mikkelson — US Senate
3122 West Caro Road
Caro, MI 48723
http://www.HarleyMikkelson.com/
VoteGreen_MI@yahoo.com

Lynn Meadows — US House/7th Congressional District
Friends of Lynn Meadows for US Rep.
150 Island Lake Road
Chelsea, MI 48118
http://www.Meadows4Congress.org
LynnMeadows@provide.net

OR

Rev. Edward Pinkney — US House/6th Congressional District
1940 Union Street
Benton Harbor, MI 49022
banco9342@sbcglobal.net
new alternate address (reported as of 8/7/08):
Rev. Edward Pinkney #294671
Hiawatha Correctional Facility
4533 Industrial Park Dr.
Kincheloe, MI 49786-0001

state-level candidates
======================
Dwain Reynolds III — State Board of Education
Committee to Elect Dwain C. Reynolds III
725 Perch Cove Court
Middleville, MI 49333
http://www.DReynolds2008.org/
ReynoldsForMISBE08@gmail.com

Ellis Boal — University of Michigan Board of Regents
Friends of Ellis Boal
9330 Boyne City Road
Charlevoix, MI 49720
http://www.EllisBoal.org
ellis@EllisBoal.org

Therese Marie Storm — Michigan State University Board of Trustees
25112 Dockside Lane
Harrison Township, MI 48045
tstorm01@baker.edu

Margaret Guttshall — Wayne State University Board of Governors
4190 Kensington
Detroit, MI 48224
MGuttshall@sbcglobal.net

local-level candidates
======================
John Anthony La Pietra — Calhoun County Clerk-Register
John Anthony La Pietra For the People
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org
jalp@triton.net

*===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===*

GPMI Platform: http://migreens.org/GPMI_platform_022908.pdf
=============

Article II. Social Justice
———-
Section 4. Civil and Equal Rights

a. Feminism/Gender Equity
————————-
Political, social, and economic equality between
men and women is a fundamental Green value. Our society
and our institutions still need to learn that oppressing
one another does not improve our lot, and helping each
other does. We will support women struggling against
oppression, whatever form that oppression may take. We
encourage Green women to become candidates for Congress,
the Michigan Legislature, and all other elective offices.

To realize these principles we advocate:

* Guaranteeing each woman’s right to participate fully
in society — free from sexual harassment, job
discrimination, or interference in the intensely
personal choice about whether to have a child. In
particular, we believe all women should have access
to safe, legal, and available contraception,
abortion services, and pre-natal care — and
professional medical consultation about all three.

* U.S. Senate ratification of the Convention on the
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW).

* Active investigation and prosecution of sexual-
harassment complaints by the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunities Commission and the state EEO Office.

* More funding for programs to address and eliminate
the root causes of rape and domestic violence.

* Legislation that guarantees the right of women to
breastfeed in public, regardless of the amount
of breast exposed.

* Paid maternity or paternity leave of at least
one year, or any combination thereof, for all
new parents as an expansion of the Family and
Medical Leave Act.

* A constitutional amendment guaranteeing the equality
of women.

* A concentrated effort to address issues of women and
poverty, such as employment discrimination against
single mothers and the gender gap in access to
unemployment benefits.

* Quality government funded child care to enable women
to work outside the home if they choose.

* The right of women to receive equal pay for equal work.

* The right of women to receive an equal-opportunity
education, and the continued support of Title IX.

John Anthony La Pietra
* For the People *
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org
jalp@triton.net

News Release * August 19, 2008

La Pietra Bringing “For the People” Campaign To the People
==========================================================
Green Party Candidate for Calhoun County Clerk-Register
Visits 3 Township Board Meetings Monday, BC Commission Tuesday

Offers Sample of Campaign Literature to Members, Citizens;
Invites All Candidates to Join Him in Giving Samples of
Campaign Literature to Clerks, Libraries for Citizen Access

Also Reminds About “Dark Earth Hour” 9-10pm This Thursday

John Anthony La Pietra, the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI)
candidate for Calhoun County Clerk-Register of Deeds, has
kicked off another effort to live up to his campaign slogan
“For the People”. He’s trying to bring that campaign *to*
the people — as many as possible.

John plans to introduce himself at city, township, village,
school, and library board meetings throughout Calhoun County
between now and Election Day on November 4. He started with
visits to Fredonia, Marshall, and Eckford Townships Monday
evening, and made an appearance at Battle Creek City Hall
tonight.

He doesn’t want to make promises he can’t keep — so he won’t
guarantee to visit *every* local government body. “But I can
promise I’ll try hard to make it to your ,” he adds.

In his self-introductions so far, John has focused on some of
the qualities he particularly brings to the Clerk-Register job:

* As a Green candidate — the only one running in Calhoun
County specifically, though county voters will have
eight other Greens to vote for — John expects to be
free to view partisan infighting among Republicans
and Democrats with an impartial eye. “And Clerk is
arguably the one position in county government most
needing to be least partisan,” he notes.

* He graduated _cum laude_ in May from Cooley Law School,
which is one of the leaders in a movement to teach new
attorneys to write and speak in Plain English. That
training, combined with ten years working for state and
local government staffs — and almost as long helping
Japanese and English speakers understand one another –
should be good preparation for the Clerk’s job too.

John also wants to make sure the clerks and secretaries of
those boards all get at least a sample copy of his campaign
flyer. He has already given a copy of this flyer

* to the clerks of all four meetings he’s attended;

* to the reference desks at both Willard Library and
Marshall District Library; and

* to Marshall City Manager Chris Olson, to pass on to
Clerk Tracy Hovarter and put in the next Council
packet.

After tonight’s Battle Creek City Commission meeting, City Clerk
Deidre Laser suggested that John put a few flyers in a general
literature rack at City Hall, on the first floor at the door
leading to the main parking lot. John was a bit surprised –
but willing, as long as the space is available equally to all.

John invites all candidates to join him in giving voters more
places and more ways to start finding out the candidates’ basic
positions. And that includes his rivals for the Clerk-Register’s
spot, Jonna Siano and Anne Norlander.

“We don’t have time enough to talk with every voter. And though
all three of us have Websites, not every voter is comfortable
with the Internet. If we all join in this simple approach, we
can make it easier for the people — and the clerks.

“Voters get more places to find out more about us. And clerks
get basic materials to help them do it — without running the
risk of looking too partisan by having material only from one
party or another, or only from incumbents. They can just hand
the whole file of contributed literature to any citizen who
asks for it.”

A downloadable Adobe Acrobat PDF file of the flyer John is
distributing is available on line at John’s campaign Website:

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/flyer4web.pdf

At this week’s stops, John has also been repeating his general
invitation to Calhoun County voters to take part in a study of
voting conditions here. A copy of that invitation, in the form
of a July 18 letter to county newspaper editors, is at

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/study1.html

And John has joined his own voice to GPMI’s call for Michigan
residents and businesses to turn off unnecessary lights and
appliances during a “Dark Earth Hour” 9-10pm the third Thursday
of every month. The next scheduled “Dark Earth Hour” date is
this Thursday, August 21. The June 8 news release announcing
GPMI’s call for a “Dark Earth Hour”, and a resolution Michigan
Greens adopted unanimously in May, are at

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/dark_earth_hour.pdf

To contact John’s campaign for Calhoun County Clerk-Register,
please feel free to e-mail

jalp@triton.net

or call

269-781-9478

For more information on the Green Party of Michigan and its
other candidates, including eight more that Calhoun County
voters will see on the November 4 ballot, contact

Green Party of Michigan
548 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://www.migreens.org
734-663-3555

# # #

prepared and distributed
(with donated labor) by

John Anthony La Pietra
* For the People *
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org

WASHINGTON GARDNER MIDDLE SCHOOL TO HOLD REGISTRATION AND OPEN HOUSE TUESDAY, AUGUST 26

Parents and students are requested to attend the Washington Gardner Middle School Registration Night Tuesday August 26 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Middle School, 401 E. Michigan Avenue in Albion.

Parents will pick up their student’s schedule, pick up supply lists, sign up for student services, and most importantly meet each of your student’s new teachers and staff.

Agenda:
5:30-6:00- Hot dog roast in front of the building
6:00-6:20- Welcome
6:20-7:30- Registration/sign up for volunteer services/meet teachers (follow student’s schedule)

To find out more, contact Michelle Corey at (517) 629-9448, or email: coreym@albion.k12.mi.us

OBITUARIES

Hillary Culliver, Sr., 84, of Jackson, formerly of Albion, passed away on Sunday, August 24, 2008, at Allegiance Health in Jackson. He was born July 3, 1924 in Brewton, Alabama to Isral and Hattie Culliver. He came to Michigan in 1969. In 1962 he married Vanilla Caldwell who preceded him in death in 1985. Hillary worked for the City of Albion in the Street Department for 18 years until he retired. He worked at Goodyear Tire in Pensacola, Florida and Jenkins Veterinary Hospital in Brewton, Alabama. He was a member of Higby Church of Christ in Jackson . He was a former member of East Chestnut Street Church of Christ which he founded along with his wife. He was also a former member of Gencreek Baptist Church in Boykind, Alabama and of the Masons. Hillary enjoyed fishing and traveling. He especially enjoyed watching judge shows on television.

Survivors include: two daughters, Jeannette Smiley and Willia Jean Johnson, both of Albion; six sons, Gary Caldwell and Jesse Culliver, both of Jackson, John Culliver of Lansing, Frank Culliver of Columbus, OH, Alphonso Caldwell of New York and Hillary Culliver, Jr., of Atmore, AL; special friend, Mamie Gamble, of Albion and her family; 21 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, six brothers and two sisters.

A funeral service will be held at noon on Friday, August 29, at Higby Street Church of Christ, 706 South Higby Street, Jackson, with Pastor James Burris and Pastor William Murphy officiating. A Family Hour will be from 11 a.m. until time of service. Interment will be at Albion Memory Gardens.

Arrangements by J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Home, 811 Finley Drive, Albion. For more information, call (517) 629-7050. Also see the website at: www.kevintiddfuneralhome.com

Doris Ann Kontos, age 75, of Albion, died Sunday, August 24, 2008. There will be no visitation. A memorial graveside gathering will be held at a later time.

Arrangements by J. Kevin Tidd Funeral Homes, Albion. For more information, call (517) 629-7050. Also see the website at: www.kevintiddfuneralhome.com

Charles “Charlie” William Quebbeman, Lansing, passed away Saturday, August 23, 2008 from a boating accident. Charlie was born on November 16, 1950 in Albion. Charlie was a standout athlete at Concord High School in basketball, baseball, and football. He earned a degree in English at the University of Michigan. He also attended Northwestern University and through the McGraw Medical Center became an American Board Certified Prosthetist and Pedorthist. Charlie worked in Lansing in the prosthetics field before starting his own business, Quality Prosthetics and Orthotic Care, Inc. in Battle Creek, Portage and Coldwater. Charlie loved volleyball, sailing, golf, skiing, coaching soccer, the University of Michigan athletics, the University of Michigan Marching Band, the Tigers, Red Wings, playing the harmonica and Little Feat. One of the prides of his life was being part of the University of Michigan football team as a student manager. Volunteering was an important part of Charlie’s life. He was a counselor at Camp Hayo-Went-Ha, a state YMCA Camp. He was active in the Holt East Side Soccer Program, Elliott Elementary PTO, and President of the Holt Dimondale Soccer Organization for many years. He coached Eastside and USSF Soccer throughout his sons’ primary school years. He was a Holt Athletic Booster representing the soccer program.

First and foremost Charlie loved his family. He married the love of his life, Marsha Zimmerman on October 20, 1984. His pride and joy were his sons, Andrew William who is attending the University of Michigan, and Nathan Charles who is attending Michigan State University. He also leaves behind his mother, Jean Quebbeman; sister, Pattie Conradi; sister-in-law, Kathlea Quebbeman of Utah; brother, Larry (Vickie) Quebbeman of Idaho; father and mother-in-law, Ray and Nancy Zimmerman of Shepherd; brothers and sisters-in-law, Mike (Lori) Zimmerman of Midland, Mark (Sue) Zimmerman of Waterford, Mary Sue (Eric) Bock of Rockford, Michelle (Jim) Streng of Beal City, Maria (Bruce) Rentz of Cascade and Marty (Jill) Zimmerman of Mt. Pleasant; seven nieces; twelve nephews; and many dear friends who will miss his easy grace, quick humor, and steadfast friendship.

He was predeceased by his father Harold and brother David.

The family will receive friends from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, August 27 at the Estes-Leadley Holt/Delhi Chapel, 2121 N. Cedar Street, Holt.

A Memorial Liturgy will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday, August 28 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, 3815 South Cedar Street, Lansing. Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider the Andrew and Nathan Quebbeman Education Fund. Send in care of Marsha A. Quebbeman at 3910 Bayberry Lane, Lansing, MI 48911.

For more information, call the Estes-Leadley Holt/Delhi Chapel at (517) 694.2631.