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League of Women Voters CO Council - May
21 and 22 - in Montrose

With local preparations made and goody bags stuffed with contributions gathered by the
Montrose and Gunnison leagues, the delegates arrived at the networking luncheon and were
welcomed to Montrose by LWVCO president, Barbara Mattison, Montrose Mayor, Rex
Swanson, and Colorado House Representative for District 58, Don Coram. 15 of the state's 19
local leagues sent delegates this year (Montrose's being Sharron Baldwin and Kathryn Carson),
each of which shared how it makes democracy work within its communities. Many good ideas to
be pondered, common threads of which were collaboration, coalitions for action, and social
media---communication to get the word out! President's remarks included an outline of the role
of the State League, plus a big thank you to Julie Leonard, the Executive Director. Following the
required business portion of the meeting came the highlight of presentations by Jefferson, Pueblo
and Larimer counties on projects they had undertaken in the past year (climate change, heroin
forums, and Cross Currents, a community video program, respectively) that were impressive and
thought-provoking! Learning about what other leagues do and meeting their delegates are
reasons that make the bi-annual Council so engaging! Voter registration of high school and
college students was another common theme. Tours of downtown Montrose and the Museum of
the Mountain West were next on the agenda for a number of delegates, followed by socializing,
dinner, and a program at The Bridges.
Both the view and our speaker, Wonder Wachara, were stunning, providing a marvelous
experience for attendees. Miss Wachara, a political science student at C.M.U., began with
Charles Dickens's famous opening paragraph to his classic Tale of Two Cities written in 1859

telling of the dramatic years leading up to the French Revolution: "It was the best of times, it was
the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of
belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had
nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in
short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on
its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." How
applicable to today's world! She garnered everyone's attention immediately and kept it
throughout her inspirational and patriotic talk about her family's emigration to the United States
from Kenya when she was ten years old, crediting her parents for pushing higher education to
their three children; the many opportunities for both men and women available in our country;
the low citizen participation in our political process and yet the high rate of citizen
dissatisfaction; that we all, but now especially her generation, must take individual responsibility
to investigate and educate ourselves on today's issues and not be swayed by the media; and, that
we can and must rise to meet today's challenges in order to maintain the liberties we have and
cherish, but sometimes take for granted, thanks to the sacrifices of our forebears. Wonder several
times reiterated several phrases from the preamble to our constitution: establish Justice, insure
domestic Tranquility, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity" to make her points, saying that if she delivered this talk in her native
county she would probably be assassinated! Following a standing ovation from some teary-eyed
audience members, Toni Larson, a state board member, put forth the well-accepted idea that the
LWVCO should provide honorary memberships to Wonder and her sister, Julie, (who was in
attendance and is a college graduate)!

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League of Women Voters CO Monthly Newsletter Excerpt

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