Local LWV leaders impact state

Myra Dunn Abbott, second vice president of the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, who leads voter outreach for our county, recently accepted a post on the League of Women Voters of Indiana state board.

She said that one of her main initiatives is to encourage Leagues statewide to partner with other organizations in their communities to accomplish a goal, project, or specific need.  This innovative practice, based on LWVMC League’s work, encourages communities to work for betterment in non-partisan ways.  In the past two years, partnerships between LWVMC and the Carnegie Museum, Chamber of Commerce, Montgomery County Community Foundation, the Mayor’s Office, the family of Montgomery County radio stations, Purdue Extension, Business and Professional Women, the Lew Wallace Study and Museum, HUE (Humans United for Equality), 4-H, and other organizations have led to important community conversations and efforts that promote informed citizen engagement at the voting booth and in civic life in general.  Dunn Abbott is now also chairing the Membership Committee for the State of Indiana for the LWVIN board of directors.

Maria Reynolds-Weir, local League columnist, has been honored for excellence this month by having one of her columns featured in the League of Women Voters of Indiana January Advocate.  Weir’s column “Agreeing to Disagree:  How Local Leaders Lead” was first published during the week of Dec. 28.  Early on in the column, Weir notes, “whether it’s traffic flow or how we’ll power our community, local politics affect our daily lives far more than national politics do.  Speaking up and trusting our leaders to find working compromises matters.”

After summing up an exercise led by 4-Hers at a “Running for Office” event that showed “just how hard it can be to agree to disagree,” Weir reminded readers of how local leaders must “hash out the emails, conversations, and concerns we citizens bring to them” before they can “take conscientious action.”   She ends the column by quoting what Mayor Barton said about local elected officials:  whatever their party—Republican, Independent, Democrat, or other—they are all on the same team:  Montgomery County.  Weir concludes, “winning teams are built on having players with different perspectives, discernment and skills who round each other out.”  Watch for Maria Weir’s LWV column in The Paper of Montgomery County each Wednesday.

The community is encouraged to watch for upcoming special League programming on the preservation of Lincoln School’s history and the partnership for energy efficiency among local churches along with regular information and programming about voting and economic health.