News & Notes, January 2020

DFA News

DFA Chair Will Lane posted this review of the past year:  “So many interesting things have happened in the Adams County progressive community over the last year, many of them carried out by DFA members and friends, sometimes working with our task forces, sometimes working with other organizations. We live in a lively community, and DFA’s own task forces remain active and strong. I want to encourage more people to write original pieces for the DFA blog, creating an even more vibrant repository of progressive thinking.”
 
Holding Government Accountable. The Task Force will develop a specific agenda for the year at its next meeting (see below for time and place). Part of the process of finding better candidates for local offices is to expose the “nitty-gritty” issues that can impact a candidate’s ability to put together a successful campaign. The task force will bring additional attention to some of these problems by, for example, checking out campaign contributions to identify who is supporting our officials at a local and state level, examining and reporting on political officials’ and candidates’ financial disclosure forms, or interviewing and vetting candidates for local office. The Poverty Study is nearing completion but work remains. People interested in participating in the new accountability project or a focus group to develop findings and recommendations for the Poverty Study should attend January's task force meeting (January 21, 2020, 7:00 pm, at the Ragged Edge) or contact task force chair Leon Reed at leonsreed@gmail.com.
 
DFA Education Task Force. Task Force member Lasco recently wrote a Gettysburg Times op-ed, a thoughtful analysis of Pennsylvania House and Senate bills that offer options for school property taxes. Lasko concluded that, “Logically, the tax structure is outdated, unfair and injurious to some tax payers, but truthfully, no one has come up with a solution which our legislature has been able to accept. 

DFA Health Care Task Force. Mary Francis Colvin's article “Surprise” concerns unreimbursed “surprise” bills from a health provider who is not a part of a patient’s insurance network of approved practitioners related to coverage, and provides suggestions for reducing the shock of these bills.
 
Green Gettysburg. Green Gettysburg will launch its book club on February 1 by reading What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming by Norwegian economist and social psychologist Per Espen Stoknes. The book is available as a paperback but also digitally on Kindle. Our first in-person meeting is planned for Friday, February 14 (time and place to be confirmed), but you can also get involved by reading the book and commenting online, or by hosting a discussion with friends and neighbors in your home. Discussion questions will be posted each week for about six or seven weeks.  Weather permitting, our first reading series will conclude with a pot luck celebration in early spring.

Our goal is to provide our members and friends with the information and skills they need to advocate for action on disruptive climate change, plastic waste, and other environmental issues. Our first reading will help us better understand the psychological and social roots of climate change denial and equip us will some skills and strategies for more effective communication on the issue. To register as a book club member, contact Will Lane at wlane@gettysburg.edu

Incarceration Reduction. Adams County participants in the VERA institute-funded incarceration reduction panel are preparing a proposal for  a “Coming Home” re-entry program, which would attempt to reduce the chances that released inmates will return to jail. A community breakfast is scheduled for January 28 (snow date January 30) to address barriers that cause people to return to jail, local criminal justice statistics, and how we can work together in a re-entry coalition. These proposals could improve people’s lives and save taxpayer funds.
 
Project Gettysburg Leon is making final arrangements for its “Nicaragua Night” auction, which will take place on January 18. (See details in ‘Events.”) As always, there will be many fine arts and crafts as well as exciting events available for auction and a large and interesting silent auction. The proceeds will benefit the partnership with our twin city, Leon, Nicaragua.
 
Gettysburg Rising. At its January 9 meeting, the group heard from Norris Flowers, head of Destination Gettysburg. Flowers answered questions about the returns Adams County residents get from DG’s expenditures of the receipts of the “pillow tax” and the background on Glenn Beck’s proposed event this summer. The group’s “Rise Above Plastic” initiative is planning next steps after the success with Kennie’s decision to eliminate single use plastic bags. One focus in 2020 will be on local restaurants. The next meeting is January 27, 4 pm, in the Library’s 2nd floor meeting room. Check “Events” for details on the organization’s annual Women’s March.
 
The Gettysburg Rising Book Club will be reading and discussing “The Family,” which is a book as well as a forthcoming Netflix series about the secretive group that sponsors the National Prayer Breakfast and exercises hidden influence in Washington. The first meeting of the book club will be February 5, 7 pm, at Waldo’s and Co.
 
Gettysburg for Gun Sense will host its Winter Multi-Media Study on January 16, February 6 and 20, and March 5 and 19 in 313 Valentine Hall at the Seminary. On February 6, the group will watch and discuss “Guns in America: the Good Guy With a Gun.” Future issues of this newsletter will describe subsequent meetings.

Events

January 18, the 2020 Women’s March will be held on Lincoln Square at noon. The event is co-sponsored by Gettysburg Rising and the YWCA of Gettysburg-Adams County. The crowd will hear two featured speakers: Indira Sabanovic (2017 Callie Award winner) and social justice expert Annie Douds. Following the speakers, the group will march down Baltimore St. to Unity Park.
 
January 18, Project Gettysburg annual “Nicaragua Night” auction, Gettysburg College Field House, 3:30 pm (live auction at 5:30). Chili dinner at 4:30. BYOB.
 
January 20, MLK Day of Service. The YWCA is the host site for the United Way of Adams County’s annual DAY ON of service, held each January on King’s birthday. Call Erin Messinger at 717-334-5809 for more information on how you can get involved.
 
January 20, Gettysburg National Military Park and Gettysburg Foundation Community Appreciation Day: free admission for Adams County residents to the Cyclorama and other attractions at the Visitor Center.
 
January 25, “We Shall Overcome – A Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.” will take place at 7:30 pm at the Majestic Theater. Inspired by the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “We Shall Overcome” showcases repertoire from across the African American music traditions that electrified generations of civil rights activists and defenders, interwoven with woven spoken word from Dr. King’s recorded speeches. Admission is free.
 
January 28, the “Coming Home” community breakfast meeting (above) will be held from 7:30-9 am at the 911 Emergency Services Building, 230 Greenamyer Ln.
 
February 5. Gettysburg Rising book club, Waldo’s and Co., 7 pm.

Opportunities

Additional hands are needed to gather and write up information for future editions of "News and Notes." Contact Leon Reed at leonsreed at gmail.com or 703-801-9623.
 
The Census is hiring enumerators in Adams County. The job pays $18 an hour and allows for a flexible work schedule. Google census jobs and follow the instructions to apply online.  (2020cenus.gov)