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Happy Thursday Democrats!

Office News

Due to Covid and the risk of exposure, we have limited office hours. The office will be open on Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Vandalism

Sometime during the night of Friday, August 27th until Saturday morning, August 28^th, vandals came to our office and tore off our business sign. The sign was attached to the concrete wall with bolts. It took quite an effort to remove it.

We aren’t going to let bullies stop us! We now must have a new sign made and installed. Since our office is funded by local donations only, we are looking for some help to offset this unexpected expense. If you are able to make a donation, you can do so on our website here: https://democratsofindianriver.org/donate/

FEDERAL

An Eventful Country

There’s been a lot going on this week in the United States. The withdrawal from Afghanistan, the attack on voting rights in Texas through Republican legislation, the attack on reproductive rights in Texas through Republican legislation that the Supreme Court is letting stand, the bogus arguments by Governor DeSantis and Republican legislators such as Erin Grall and Debbie Mayfield against masks in schools wrapped up in parental rights, Hurricane Ida and of course the relentless epidemic of Covid. It seems every time you turn around, we are in another crisis. It’s exhausting to face all that our country is going through. Still, we must support our Democratic Administration and lawmakers in any way we can—and we can.

One way to do this is to not focus on the bad and instead take personal and civic responsibility and focus on what we can do to help. Below is a USA Today article that lists a lot of great ways to help our fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Ida.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/30/hurricane-ida-help-storm-victims-louisiana-mississippi/5648004001/

STATE

DeSantis’ Ban on Mask Mandate
Thrown out by Judge

Ron DeSantis’ dangerous games with the lives of our children and school district staff in the State of Florida came to an abrupt end last Friday. Judge John Cooper ruled that the ban on mask mandates in schools was a violation of the Parental Bill of Rights. Which is ironic, because DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education leadership, have touted parental rights as the reason masks shouldn’t be mandated. DeSantis and his cronies plan to appeal.

Despite the Judge’s order, DeSantis has now ordered the pay for school board members in Alachua and Broward be withheld since they violated is order and mandated masks.

Meanwhile, in Indian River County, Beachland and Treasure Coast elementary schools have been closed until after Labor Day due to excessive Covid cases and teacher shortage.

The mask drama DeSantis creates is not only costing people their lives but is having enormous financial impacts on the families affected. He is a disaster for this state and the people in it.

More about Judge Cooper’s order:

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2021/08/27/judge-expected-to-rule-on-lawsuit-against-gov-desantis-mask-mandate?fbclid=IwAR3emEiwplX_Zfe3drBHNgqoqhBospdOVuR4Te705jURLLT2SlOuZRHC274

LOCAL

Stand with Our Superintendent and School Board Members Who Voted for a Mask Mandate

School Board Members have received many supportive emails regarding the mask mandate, and we are asking you to please assist the school district with getting this positive message out on social media.

Would you please put information on your personal social media and tag the school district?

On Facebook you can tag the school district by typing @School District of Indian River County in your post. Twitter tag is @IRCschools

Most of the people who attend the School Board meetings are not in support of this mandate. They are threatening school board members who voted for the mandate that they will be removed their salaries will be taken from them. We need to put it out there how many people are very happy with this mandate. In other words, hear from a very positive side.

If you would please consider this request, it would go a long way to allowing sanity to prevail in our district.

Candidates for Vero Beach City Council & Sebastian City Council – Still Time!

The Vero Beach City Council municipal elections will take place in November. There are two seats up for election. Those seats are currently occupied by Dick Winger and Rey Neville. The deadline for filing to run for a seat is tomorrow – September 3^rd. Go to their election website for filing information: https://www.covb.org/161/Election-Information

So far, the choice of candidates is a laundry list of Republicans. They are:

Taylor Dingle (R) – endorsed by the Indian River County Conservative Club

Tracey Zudans (R) – wife of Val Zudans (former Mayor and founder of Indian River Patriots)

John Cotugno (R) – has run twice before for City Council and changed his party affiliation to Republican the second time

Brian Heady (R) – has run for City Council numerous times

The deadline to run for Sebastian City Council is also tomorrow. You can go to their Election website for more information at: https://www.cityofsebastian.org/225/Election-Information

Currently the Sebastian City Council candidates are:

Damian Gilliums Jr.
Fred Jones
Sherrie Matthews
Bob McPartlan
Chistopher Nunn
Clint Phipps

Unless we start getting people to step up to the plate, our voting choices in this community will always be Republicans.

Discounts from your Library Card!

DEMOCRATS OF INDIAN RIVER

Assistant Treasurer Needed

We are looking for someone who can assist our Treasure. This volunteer would help with filing paperwork, completing Supervisor of Election reports and do local banking. Being an accountant is not required but being organized is a must. If you are interested, please email Stacey at [email protected]

Democratic Women’s Club

This is My America by Kim Johnson is the next Book Group selection. The virtual meeting will start at 2:00 pm on September 24th. If you are not a Book Group member and would like to attend please contact Rita Milelli at [email protected].

Democratic Club of Indian River

The next Club Members meeting will be held on Zoom, Tuesday, September 14th at 6:00 p.m. Paul Seldes will speak and share with us his insights on where we currently stand with COVID in IRC and the State, as well as any forecast of which way the virus might be trending.

We plan to have Nikki Fried, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Candidate for Governor in 2022, speak at our October 12th Club members meeting. We are currently investigating the possibility of having Commissioner Fried in person at that meeting. We are looking at several large venues where we can safely conduct the meeting. The criteria will be, decreasing COVID cases, attendees must be fully vaccinated, masks will be required and seating will be socially distanced at 6’ apart. If we are unable to fulfill that criteria, we will conduct the meeting on Zoom. So, stay tuned as we continue to provide updates.

In having Commissioner Fried as a speaker, the Club is in no way endorsing or supporting her as a candidate for governor prior to the primary. But, rather offering members the ability to listen to her speak, ask questions, so they are able to make an informed decision when it comes time to vote in the primary. We will in the future, seek any other Democrat running for Governor to speak at a future meeting.

We now have a private Facebook group for the Democratic Club of Indian River. Please join us for some great discussions! On Facebook search for Indian River Democratic Club.

CALENDAR

Thursday, September 2, 2021

7:00 p.m. - Fellsmere City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil

Friday, September 3, 2021

10:00 a.m. – Democratic Women’s Club Board Meeting. If you are not a DWC member and would like to attend, please contact Pat O'Hara at [email protected].

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

8:30 a.m. – Vero Beach City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to https://covb.org/AgendaCenter

5:00 p.m. – Democrats of Indian River, DEC Steering Committee Meeting
Meeting via Zoom. Contact Stacey at [email protected] for meeting link.

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

6:00 p.m. - Sebastian City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to https://www.cityofsebastian.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=343&month=2&year=2021&day=17&calType=0

Thursday, September 9, 2021

5:01 p.m. – School Board Special Meeting on Budget and Millage, School District of Indian River County, 6500 57th Street, Vero Beach, FL 32967

COVID UPDATE AND VACCINATIONS

Covid Update

While it is difficult to find out what is happening exactly in Florida, since our Governor has pretty much banned anyone from reporting factual data, we do know it is still dangerous out there. Write the Governor and demand the State report on county data daily! Too many people and are sick and too many people are hospitalized and we have no idea how severe things are in our own county! His email is here: [email protected]

If you have ever wondered what the stages of severe Covid look like, the LA Times has a great piece written by a Respiratory Therapist detailing those stages. You can read it here:

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-08-26/pandemic-covid-19-stages-vaccination-intensive-care-respiratory-therapist?fbclid=IwAR0K-DOGAXA6QI4PV7YCeNbnuYC5CADeusYyHTUrSlMJ5xb1CCTIr9tZJ8E

Statistics

A great place to check statistics for Indian River County is on Covid Act Now. You can access it here:
https://covidactnow.org/us/florida-fl/county/indian_river_county/?s=21821108

The vulnerability level in IRC continues to be high so please continue to wear your mask and take necessary precautions.

Vaccinations

You can search for vaccination locations and details by clicking here:

https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/vaccines/vaccine-locator/?utm_source=floridahealth.gov&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=covid-19&utm_term=information+covid-19+vaccine+&utm_content=011921-vaccine-locater.redirect.html_in_article_link

TIDBITS

That's all!

See you next week!

Stay Safe and Well!

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Democratic Executive Committee of Indian River County

2345 14th Ave.

Suite 7

Vero Beach, FL 32960

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