LPM Online

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1. Upcoming Events
   
   

   March 20, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   Libertarians of Allegan County monthly meeting at the Blue Heron in downtown Allegan.

   Location: Directions: The entrance to the Riverfront parking is at the corner of Hubbard and Chestnut. Drive down and park behind Dockerty's. The Blue Heron is right next door to Docherty's, entrance on the riverfront.

   Contact: Rick Dutkiewicz Phone: (616) 673-5503 E-mail: rdoogie@datawise.net

   
   

   March 21, 2001

   Monthly meeting of the St. Clair County affiliate.

   Location: Figaro's is located at 1503 11th Street, Port Huron, MI 48060. TX: (810) 987-3588. Join us for dinner at 6:00 PM. Business begins at 7:00 PM.

   Contact: Richard Friend Phone: (810) 982-7178 E-mail: rfriend@advnet.net

   
   

   March 21, 2001 - 6:30 PM

   LP of Oakland County General Membership Meeting. Public welcome. Meet for dinner at 6:30PM, business begins at 7:30PM.

   Location: Sila's, 4033 W. 12 Mile Rd., Berkley. Sila's is located 2 blocks east of Greenfield on 12 Mile Rd.

   Contact: Chris Pellerito Phone: (248) 373-9411 E-mail: chair@lpocmi.org

   
   

   March 27, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   The monthly meeting of the Ottawa County Libertarian Party

   Location: The Yellow Jacket Inn. 12011 Lake Michigan Dr. West Olive, MI

   Contact: Jason C. Miller Phone: (616) 669-2851 E-mail: jcmiller@egl.net

   
   

   March 28, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   Libertarians of Macomb County Committee planning meeting.

   Location: Home of Keith and Marnie Edwards. 28960 Jane St., St. Clair Shores

   Contact: Diane Barnes Phone: (810) 774-1625 E-mail: vicechair@michiganlp.org

   
   

   April 3, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   Kalamazoo Libertarian Party General Meeting

   Location: TGI Friday's Restaurant, 5650 W. Main St., Oshtemo MI

   Contact: Tim Miley Phone: (616) 668-3951 E-mail: thmiley@yahoo.com

   
   

   April 3, 2001 - 7:30 PM

   Barbara Goushaw, Jon Coon campaign manager and founder of the LP campaign managers association will be speaking at the April meeting. We would like to have a large crowd for her. All candidates who are running for political office (or even just expect to sometime in the future) should attend.

   Location: La Trattoria restaurant 13736 Michigan Ave.,Dearborn

   Contact: Heather Pauli Phone: (313) 538-8208 E-mail: HeatherPauli@hotmail.com

   
   

   April 9, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   CLARE-GLADWIN LIBERTARIAN PARTY MEETING. Refreshments provided. Review success of St.Patrick's Day Parade, discuss the State Convention and Ballot Access Petitioning.

   Location: MID MICHIGAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE, ROOM 167.

   Contact: Ghazey Aleck Phone: (517) 386-2699 E-mail: ghazey@alecklawfirm.com

   
   

   April 11, 2001 - 6:30 PM

   Libertarians of Macomb County monthly meeting. Drinks and dinner at 6:30 PM, business begins at 7:00 PM.

   Location: Miles World Resturant, 17689 Masonic, Fraser, MI 48026, 810-415-4500.

   Contact: Diane Barnes Phone: (810) 774-1625 E-mail: dbarnes98@aol.com

   
   

   April 16, 2001 - 4:00 PM

   Libertarians of Macomb County Tax Protest Event! Meet outside the post office and distribute literature to the poor souls mailing there tax returns.

   Location: Sterling Heights Post office (corner of Metro Parkway and Van Dyke)

   Contact: Paul Soyk Phone: (810) 977-3523 E-mail: paulsoyk@flash.net

   
   

   More

   For more events, see the online calendar at:

   http://www.michiganlp.org/lpmonline/events.php

   
   

2. Convention Information and Registration Now Online! by Mark Heil

   Information on the upcoming LPM Convention 2001 (May 4-6, 2001) is now available on our web site at www.mi.lp.org/01conv/. Read continuously updated information including a schedule of events, scheduled speakers and information about the location, Bavarian Inn Lodge in Frankenmuth.

   You can also instantly register online with your credit card using our secure registration page at https://michiganlp.org/Convention.php. If you preser to mail in your registration you will also find a printable registration form that you can print, fill out and mail in to register for the convention (www.mi.lp.org/01conv/regform.htm). Register before April 7, 2001 and save!

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3. Help Wanted by Mark Heil

   The LPM is in need of a volunteer who has basic database and word processing skills to perform tasks which usually take about 1 to 2 hours a week. Every other week or so, we get two sets of data from the national LP. We need someone to manipulate this data and generate two sets of mailing labels and deliver the labels to LPM HQ where other volunteers will process the mailing. Additionally, we have another set of data from which we need to generate several mail merge letters, stuff them in envelopes and mail. This is usually done once a week.

   If you are able to take on this project, contact Mark Heil at markfheil@worldnet.att.net. The databases and documents are already created in Word 97 and Access 97, so if you have those programs there is little initial work to be done. If you use other programs, you'll need to recreate what I already have. Your expenses for labels, paper and postage will be reimbursed by the LPM, preprinted envelopes will be provided.

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4. Hudsonville waste-hauling plan defeated by Jason C. Miller

   HUDSONVILLE -- Ottawa County Libertarians have helped defeat a proposal by members of Hudsonville's City Commission to change the way trash is picked up. Currently there is a free-market system where consumers contract with any of the dozen local providers. The commissioners proposed either granting a single contract for the entire city to one carrier or purchasing equipment and having the city haul waste.

   A group of local residents and the waste-hauling companies took city hall by storm. The meeting was packed with angry residents and the phone calls to commission members had their heads spinning. The voice from the people was clear: Leave us alone.

   Charles Miller was particularly effective when he addressed the commission. His lecture to them about American principles received chears from the crowd. The mayor of Hudsonville stated "We were floating a trial balloon...it's pretty clear it was shot down." Libertarians were proud to be a part of that firing squad

   The City is still looking for ways to meddle and is now considering licensing and regulating waste haulers. Except for one commissioner, nobody else has complained or asked for this interference. The Ottawa County Libertarian Party will continue to monitor the situation and stick up for the free market.

   Visit your local government meetings

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5. Libertarians of Macomb County Holds Elections by Mark Heil

   The Libertarians of Macomb County held its 2001 officer and committee elections at its March 14th meeting. The following were elected to party office:
   
   Chair - Diane Barnes
   Vice Chair - David Wejrandt
   Secretary - Erin Stahl
   Treasurer - Marnie Edwards
   
   At-large Committee:
   
   Jim Miller
   Mike Jablonski
   Lou Vierling

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6. Judges Must be Smoking Something by Press Release

   3/16/01
   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
   CONTACT: Tim O'Brien
   (313) 562-5778
   (248)591-3733
   
   DEARBORN. "The verdict at leastwas right," said Libertarian Party of Michigan executive director Tim O'Brien,referring to the recent court of appeals ruling striking down local government smoking bans. "But those judges must have been smoking something themselves to hold that the only problem is that the wrong level of government was making the law."
   
   The three judge panel ruled against the City of Marquette, holding that Michigan law prevents localities from passing communitywide bans on smoking in restaurants. "The question of whether there should be a total ban on smoking in restaurants must be left to the legislature," the court held.
   
   "It apparently never occurred to the learned hands of the Michigan judiciary," O'Brien observed, "that the question of whether there should be a total ban on smoking in restaurants ought to be left to the restaurant owners. Who is in a better position to determine what restaurant patrons actually want?" he asked.
   
   "We used to have a couple of powerful institutions in this country called 'private property' and 'the free market.' When you respect those concepts you have a society based on voluntary relationships rather than political muscle. Then you don't have to try and guess what people want -- in order to impose it on them. People vote with their money. If you leave the market free to meet the wishes of consumers, it will do just that. Some restaurants will cater to smokers. Some to nonsmokers. Some to those who don't care one way or the other. Instead of imposing a single standard which must necessarily exclude wishes of some, all preferences can thus be accommodated.
   
   "And not only will the market show what people want, it will even tell you in exactly what proportion because its natural selection process will replace businesses that do not satisfy the wishes of their customers with ones that do.
   
   "If the citizens of Marquette genuinely prefer nonsmoking restaurants, no local ordinance imposing that rule would be needed. The very fact that a law must be passed to accomplish that goal is proof that this does not represent the wishes of the people there.
   
   "And, of course," he concluded, "all of these same fundamentals of economics apply irrespective of which level of government short circuits the market process. I guess those judges must have been out finding something to smoke during college -- when the rest of us were studying Adam Smith."

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7. Berrien County LP Updates by Glenn Whitt, Secretary

   Monthly Meeting

   As a reminder, the Berrien Coounty LP will have its monthly meeting this Thursday, 22 March 2001, at 7pm. It will be held at the James White Library on the campus of Andrews University, Berrien Springs MI. During the meeting, we will have discussion regarding the recall efforts of Oronoko Township. We are expecting a few visitors from the Oronoko Twp community. For travel instructions, please call me, Glenn Whitt, at 473-2764.
   
   

   New Buffalo Election Results

   Berrien County LP chair Mr. Ray Kirkus did not win his bid for New Buffalo City Council. With good press that seemed to lean in Mr. Kirkus' favour, incumbant Mr. Jack Kennedy was still able to retain his seat recieving 78% of the total votes cast for city councilman against Mr. Kirkus' 22%. There was surpringly low voter turnout. Out of over 1600 registered New Buffalo voters, only 250 actually voted at all.
   
   All was not lost though. There were three proposals that were also on the ballot. Two involved increasing spending limits for the city manager and the city council. The defeat of the one proposal to increase spending limit of the city council to $10,000 was defeated, and the one for increasing the spending limit of the township supervisor passed by a very close margin of only 4 votes. These results could be attributed to Mr. Kirkus' campaign because he included information about these proposals in his campaign literature, which were distributed to nearly every household in New Buffalo.
   
   As Stacy van Oast stated, the seeds of Libertarianism have been planted. Good job Ray. Back to Contents