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Calling all Democratic Club Members!

The annual election of club officers and board members is scheduled to be held at the Democratic Club meeting in March.
The Club always welcomes new faces and new ideas and all members who want to bring their ideas and efforts to the Club are encouraged to add their name to the list of nominees. If you are interested in any of the following positions, please contact Clay Wild at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or Claudia Martino at [email protected] ([link removed]) . Some incumbents have indicated they will continue to serve on the Board if needed but will welcome and actively support all new officers.

President for 2-year term

Vice President for 2-year term

Secretary for 2-year term

Board Directors,1-year and 2-year terms



CALENDAR

Friday, February 3, 2023

11:30 a.m. - Indian River Taxpayer’s Association meeting at the Vero Beach Yacht Club. The President of Indian River State College, Dr Timothy E. Moore, is scheduled to speak. RSVP is required to purchase lunch via their website.

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

9:00 a.m. - Vero Beach City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1053 20^th Place, Vero Beach 32960 : For agenda and meeting information go to [link removed] You can watch here: [link removed]


[link removed]


[link removed] ([link removed])

7:00 p.m. - Florida’s Fighters for Conservation with Clay Henderson, one of Florida’s leading voices in environmental policy. He sponsored the largest voter approved conservation funding initiative in our nation’s history, and the creation
of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, led development of nationally recognized land conservation programs, negotiated over 300,000 acres of lands for national and state parks, forests, and wildlife refuges. He negotiated key elements of the Everglades Restoration and authored Florida Community Planning Act (2011). and was one of the founders of Save the Manatee Club. At the Emerson Center Admission is free; suggested $10 donation.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023


[link removed] ([link removed])


Saturday, February 11, 2023

11:30 a.m. - DWC Luncheon at the Bent Pine Clubhouse.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

6:00 p.m. - Democratic Executive Committee meeting

Thursday, February 16, 2023

6:00 p.m. - Democratic Club meeting and Potluck at the Irish Club.


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Democrats of Indian River

NOTICE: Democrats of Indian River Office Hours have changed. We will be open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. You can always leave a voice message at (772) 226-5267 and email Caryl in the office at [email protected]

Democratic Women's Club

Saturday, February 11, 2023

11:30 a.m. - DWC Luncheon at the Bent Pine Clubhouse. The Speaker will be Ed Garland of the Sebastian Inlet District. Please RSVP with your meal choice: Lemon Pepper Chicken, Lightly Blackened Mahi, or Vegetarian Entree to ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
or contact Julie
Barone at (718) 916-0682.

Democratic Club

Thursday, February 16, 2023

6:00 p.m. - Democratic Club meeting and Potluck at the Irish Club. (Please keep it simple, finger foods: sandwiches, chips and dips, cheese and crackers, pizza...) We will discuss March election of new Board of Directors and a precinct captain will speak about neighborhood outreach.

SAVE THE DATE

Friday, February 24, 2023

The DWC Book Group will meet 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Brackett Library on the IRSC Mueller campus and discuss
“Braiding
Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of
Plants” by Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer



LETTER TO THE EDITOR

AP African-American class controversy sign of fear



Re: ** The story Jan. 21 about the Florida Department of Education rejecting ([link removed])
the AP African-American Studies course.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Stop WOKE Act makes it against the law for the Department of Education to allow an AP course on African-American studies. The department’s Office of Articulation stated the class is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

That hurt my head!

“Lacks educational value …” implies there is nothing we can learn from anything African Americans have contributed to our society in all the years since slave traders took them from Africa and forced them into labor. That part of their history does not need to be taught in any class. Everyone knows how awful that time was for their ancestors.

The article goes on to state that the curriculum of this AP course would cover “literature, the arts and humanities, political science, geography, and science ... ” which could educate our students about contributions and experiences of African Americans.

Wouldn’t a course like that benefit all students, so they could all learn a more positive history of African Americans in our country? Couldn’t it instill pride in our African-American students, who learn only about the oppression and racism that still exists today?

There could be a positive way to teach African-American history. What is anyone afraid of? The article goes on to address the “Don’t Say Gay” Parental Rights in Education law; another show of fear and ignorance.

Carol Grube, Stuart


Unenlightened can lead Florida into abyss



From where I sit, I find all this talk about wokeness confusing ... and disturbing.

To me, it sounds like woke equates with enlightened, and I thought enlightenment was a good thing. So why fight it? Why muzzle all the teachers at all levels in our communities?

Brightline lives, folks die, by rules, regardless of safety



There have been some very astute letters to the editor lately about the death trains. The reason they are fencing the Brightline stretch from Cocoa Beach to the Orlando airport is because federal regulations for trains going 125 mph require it.

The trains ripping through our communities at 110 mph? There's no fencing required, and they can cross streets at grade or street level. In fact, there are currently NO trains in the United States going 110 mph crossing streets at grade, unfenced, through populated areas. This will be the first.

And to answer another letter: The state didn’t “approve” the trains on this route and no one “voted for it.” The corporation owning the FEC freight rail system said, “we own the land and tracks, we can do what we want,” and it did. Although two earlier studies said the coastal route was bad for high-speed rail (trains going 125 mph), the corporation dropped to 110 mph to build on the cheap, while doubling its freight capacity.

A Legislature-funded study in 2018 found the Florida Department of Transportation regulates the system, not the Federal Railroad Administration, and the state had no regulations for trains going over 79 mph. Isn’t it about time our elected officials from our cities, counties and Legislature demand FDOT explain how they are going to make 36 trains per day going 110 mph crossing 150 streets at grade with open tracks SAFE?

With 76 deaths already on the Brightline tracks at 79 mph and the infamous designation as the deadliest system in the nation, our coastal communities are in real peril when they go 30 mph faster. As one letter writer said: Speed kills! And it will!

Susan Mehiel, Vero Beach





To submit your letters to the Editor, go to:

** [link removed] ([link removed])

LOCAL



First look: The Oyster Bar Marsh Conservation Area in Vero Beach is now open to the public.


Heather Stapleton, left, community engagement coordinator for One Lagoon, a national estuary program, and Beth Powell, Indian River County's acting general services director/parks and recreation director, walk through an impoundment of the Oyster Bar Marsh Conservation Area after a ceremony to celebrate its grand opening on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023 in Vero Beach. “One of the things that is really unique is the large impoundment in the center that is managed by the Indian River County Mosquito Control District,” Powell said. “It gives people an opportunity to actually get out in the middle of an impoundment and see all the diversity and the habitat that is there." Indian River County and the Florida Communities Trust started the acquisition in 2001, acquiring 90 of the 132-acre conservation area that extends from the barrier island into the Indian River Lagoon. The Indian River County Land trust started public use improvements a year ago, leaving the remaining acreage complete for
recreational use. The entrance is at 1955 S State Road A1A.

Heather Stapleton, left, community engagement coordinator for One Lagoon, a national estuary program, and Beth Powell, Indian River County's acting general services director/parks and recreation director, walk through an impoundment of the Oyster Bar Marsh Conservation Area after a ceremony to celebrate its grand opening on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023 in Vero Beach. “One of the things that is really unique is the large impoundment in the center that is managed by the Indian River County Mosquito Control District,” Powell said. “It gives people an opportunity to actually get out in the middle of an impoundment and see all the diversity and the habitat that is there." Indian River County and the Florida Communities Trust started the acquisition in 2001, acquiring 90 of the 132-acre conservation area that extends from the barrier island into the Indian River Lagoon. The Indian River County Land trust started public use improvements a year ago, leaving the remaining acreage complete for
recreational use. The entrance is at 1955 S State Road A1A.
Mangroves near the Indian River Lagoon are seen at the Oyster Bar Marsh Conservation Area after a ceremony to celebrate its grand opening on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, in Vero Beach. “As I pulled in this morning I could hear the Cedar Waxwings and this strangler fig that we worked really hard to protect,” said Beth Powell, Indian River County's acting general services director/parks and recreation director. “They’re all migrating right now and their sweet little whistles are something that can wake you up in the morning. You can feel that in your heart as you’re exploring a conservation area.” Indian River County and the Florida Communities Trust started the acquisition in 2001, acquiring 90 of the 132-acre conservation area that extends from the barrier island into the Indian River Lagoon. The Indian River County Land Trust started public use improvements a year ago, leaving the remaining acreage complete for recreational use.

KAILA JONES
TCPALM

For more information and photos, go to:
** Oyster Bar Marsh Conservation Area open in Vero Beach ([link removed])

STATE

New Florida bill would allow residents to carry concealed firearms without a license

The group Prevent Gun Violence Florida vowed to fight against the legislation and cited “a clear link between lax gun laws and increased gun violence.”
Calling the proposal an effort to “remove the government permission slip,” House Speaker Paul Renner on Monday announced legislation that would allow people to carry concealed weapons without licenses.
Renner, R-Palm Coast, was flanked by Republican lawmakers and county sheriffs who backed the 63-page proposal, which would create what supporters call “constitutional carry.”
“Central to the idea of freedom is the right that we can defend ourselves against physical attack, as well as defend those that we love. The Constitution did not give us those rights, the creator gave us those rights. But it does put it down on paper in the Second Amendment. And the courts have interpreted that to mean an individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense,” Renner said.
Under current law, people who want to carry concealed weapons need to apply to the state for a license and go through a process that includes passing criminal background checks. More than 2.62 million people had concealed weapons licenses as of Dec. 31, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which administers the program.
Lawmakers will consider the proposal (HB 543) during the legislative session that will start March 7. Under the bill, a person would need to “carry valid identification at all times when he or she is in actual possession of a concealed weapon or concealed firearm and must display such identification upon demand by a law enforcement officer.
Also, current prohibitions on carrying guns at places such as schools and athletic events would continue to apply.
People who are not Florida residents could carry concealed firearms if they are 21 or older, according to the proposal.
Rep. Chuck Brannan, R-Macclenny, and Rep. Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, are sponsoring the House measure. A Senate version, which had not been posted online as of early Monday afternoon, is expected to be sponsored by Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa.
A House news release included a statement from Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, supporting the proposal. Also, Gov. Ron DeSantis has expressed support for the idea in the past.
“This bill is a big step to help the average law-abiding citizen to keep from having to go through the hoops of getting a permit from the government to carry their weapons. It is also not going to change who can and cannot carry a gun — people who are prohibited now will still be prohibited,” Brannan said.
But Democrats quickly criticized the proposal and pointed to issues such as the elimination of a training requirement that is part of obtaining concealed weapons licenses.
“This is not constitutional carry, this is untrained carry. We have to be very clear and specific as to what the legislation actually does, and that is to remove the training requirement, and you will no longer have the check if you have something disqualifying you in your criminal record,” Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, a Democrat who was mayor of Parkland at the time of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, told reporters Monday. The group Prevent Gun Violence Florida vowed to fight against the legislation and cited “a clear link between lax gun laws and increased gun violence.”
“In an era of increased mass shootings and rising gun crime, it is outlandish that our Legislature is being asked to loosen gun restrictions rather than strengthen them,” the group said in a prepared statement.

** Ryan Dailey, NSF ([link removed])

Orlando Weekly


FEDERAL

Gun Violence in America

Twelve years after a bullet ripped through the left side of her brain, Gabrielle Giffords speaks mainly in stock phrases and short bursts, conveying meaning with her eyes or a boxer’s swing of her left arm, the one that is still fully mobile. “Enough is enough!” she might say. Or: “Be passionate! Be courageous!”

But in an interview at the headquarters of the gun safety group that bears her name, amid ** a string of mass shootings ([link removed])
in California, there was something more that Ms. Giffords wanted to say. Asked what Americans should know about her, “I’m getting better,” she said haltingly, laboring over each word. “Slowly, I’m getting better. Long, hard haul, but I’m getting better. Our lives can change so quickly. Mine did when I was shot. I’ve never given up hope. I chose to make a new start, to move ahead, to not look back. I’m relearning so many things — how to walk, how to talk — and I’m fighting to make the country safer. It can be so difficult. Losses hurt; setbacks are hard. But I tell myself: Move ahead.”

Ms. Giffords, 52, who goes by Gabby, is arguably America’s most famous gun violence survivor. She had come to the group’s headquarters in Washington for an update and a strategy session. The timing of her visit underscored two competing truths: The gun safety movement she helps lead is stronger than ever. But the nation’s gun violence epidemic is worsening.

In part because of the efforts of Giffords, the group Ms. Giffords and her husband founded 10 years ago, so-called ** red flag laws ([link removed])
aimed at keeping guns away from potentially dangerous people have now been enacted in 19 states and the District of Columbia; states adopted ** dozens of new gun safety laws ([link removed])
in 2022 alone. Breaking nearly 30 years of partisan gridlock, Congress ** passed a modest package of gun safety measures ([link removed])
last year. Democrats, who ** once feared the gun rights lobby ([link removed])
, are now running on gun safety platforms.

But already this year, 84 people have died in 49 mass shootings, according to the ** Gun Violence Archive ([link removed])
, which defines mass shootings as those in which four or more people are shot or killed.

A divided Congress means there is ** little hope ([link removed])
for ambitious reforms in Washington. The Supreme Court, now with a six-justice conservative majority, ** ruled last year ([link removed])
that Americans have a broad right to carry guns, making it harder for states to impose restrictions.

** Ghost guns ([link removed])
— untraceable firearms assembled from components bought online — are proliferating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls ** firearm deaths ([link removed])
“a significant and growing public health problem.” In 2021, 81 percent of homicides and 55 percent of suicides ** involved guns ([link removed])
. “Without the laws we’ve passed, even more people would be dead,” said Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, who led the push for last year’s package of gun safety measures. “But right now, we’re losing the race. We’re passing laws at a quick rate, but not fast enough to keep up with the pace of new weapons in communities and in homes.”

Ms. Giffords is an optimist, but also a realist. In written answers to questions — an accommodation she sought because conversation is difficult — she conceded that persuading Congress to pass sweeping laws, like banning assault weapons or requiring gun manufacturers to make weapons with safety devices like fingerprint locks, “will be tough.”

But she likened the effort to her own painstaking recovery — a fight back that will never get her where she once was. “Progress,” she said, “happens inch by inch.” Each day in the United States, upward of 200 people are wounded by guns and more than 110 are killed, ** according to Everytown for Gun Safety ([link removed])
, another advocacy group, which has declared the first week in February as ** National Gun Violence Survivors Week ([link removed])
. The figures include suicides, homicides, accidents and police shootings.

Keenon James, who runs the group’s survivor network, is among millions of Americans touched by gun violence; his older brother was shot and killed in 1993. He said Ms. Giffords had put a powerful spotlight on the experiences of survivors.

“She is absolutely a symbol of resilience,” he said. “That experience may have changed her, but it has not stopped her.”

One thing it did stop, however, is her political career. Her husband, the former astronaut Mark Kelly, is now a Democratic senator from Arizona, a job to which she once aspired.

In Congress, Ms. Giffords was a centrist Democrat who ** opposed the death penalty but supported gun rights ([link removed])
. She owned a 9-millimeter Glock to protect herself after two home burglaries. In recent years, her group has sought to enlist gun owners; eight states now have chapters of Gun Owners for Safety, a Giffords initiative.

In a sign of the political realities she faces, Ms. Giffords’s home state of Arizona is not among them. The state does not have a red flag law and allows people 21 or older to carry a concealed, loaded firearm in public without a permit. Mr. Kelly said it would be a “tough proposition” to get gun safety measures through the State Legislature. And he has not been especially vocal about gun safety as a senator.

“My style on this stuff is to show up and do the work here,” he said last week during an interview in his Senate office, “not be on TV talking about it.”

The movement was not especially sophisticated before Sandy Hook, said Josh Horwitz, who worked for and later ran the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence for nearly 30 years before joining the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Giffords and Everytown, he said, employed a “political campaign approach,” harnessing online fund-raising and social media in a way that enabled gun safety activists to finally compete with the National Rifle Association.

“The N.R.A. had this competitive advantage because they had all these gun stores and gun shows recruiting for them every day — ‘Join the N.R.A.!’” he said. “And for the first time, we were able to go head-to-head with them, collecting new members.”

But the fallout from Sandy Hook did not result in new gun safety laws at the federal level. And the package of gun safety measures passed by Congress last year ** received mixed reviews ([link removed])
from experts. Lawrence O. Gostin, an expert in public health law at Georgetown University, called it “weak sauce and window dressing,” adding that he feared Ms. Giffords would never win her fight.

“It’s not winnable in her lifetime, and I say that with enormous tears in my eyes,” he said. “It is getting worse, because we’re becoming completely numb to it, and there’s a certain inevitability to mass shootings that we think is unfixable. And once you think it’s unfixable, it is unfixable.”

Sheryl Gay Stolberg
The NYTimes

VIDEO of the WEEK

SNL cold open on Classified documents

[link removed]




Office Hours

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
10am to 3pm

2345 14^th Ave. Suite 7
Vero Beach 32960

(772) 226-5267

[email protected]


STAY SAFE OUT THERE!


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