Dr. Brenda Tanner, superintendent of Orange County Public Schools, will be guest speaker at a meeting of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club April 16.
The event, which is open to the public without regard to political affiliation, will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the LOW Community Center. Refreshments will be served at a social time 30 minutes prior to the meeting time.
Tanner has more than 35 years’ experience in education in Virginia and South Carolina, including six years as superintendent of school in Madison County. She has served as a teacher and administrator in several Virginia school divisions and was chief academic and chief personnel office for Horry County Public Schools in South Carolina.
She has also worked at the college level, teaching in the area of leadership and school administration at the University of Virginia while also directing the Curry School’s school/university professional development curriculum.
Tanner received her bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from Lynchburg College, her master’s degree in early childhood education and her doctoral degree in education leadership and policy studies from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Holly P. Hilton, a Charlottesville attorney, presented an informative program on legal issues affecting the elderly at the club’s March 20 meeting. She offered expert advice on estate planning, wills and trusts, powers of attorney, advance medical directives and other legal matters and answered questions.
Holly P. Hilton, a Charlottesville attorney, will speak to members and guests of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club March 19 on legal concerns specifically affecting senior citizens. Hilton’s appearance had orginally been scheduled for February, but that meeting had to be canceled because of the weather.
The meeting, which will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the LOW Community Center, is open to anyone with an interest in estate planning, wills and trusts, powers of attorney, advance medical directives and other legal matters involving the elderly.
Hilton is a principle with Hilton and Associates, PLC in Charlottesville.
She has been practicing law since 1987.
She is the vice chair of the Aging in Place Business Roundtable of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, is current on the board of the Arc of the Piedmont, and has served on the board of the Piedmont Dispute Resolution Center and the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia. She is also a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.
Ms. Hilton received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the National Law Center of George Washington University in 1987 and her Bachelors of Business Administration in 1981, also from George Washington University.
Meetings of the LOW Democratic Club are open to all without regard to political affiliation. A meet-and-greet session will precede the meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, and light refreshments will be served. Please note that the location of club meetings has recently changed.
Orange County Registrar Donna Jenni accepts gift from Club Program Chairman Pat Ivey.
Donna Jenni, Orange County’s voter registrar, visited the LOW Democratic Club Sept. 18 to explain the intricacies of Virginia’s new requirement for voters to show a photo identification card in order to vote.
“We didn’t make the law, but we have to implement it,” Jenni said. “I feel that we should interpret the law as loosely as possible. We want people who are eligible to vote to vote.”
The law, which went into effect July 1, 2014, requires registered voters to produce one of the following types of identification at their polling places before they cast their ballots:
A valid Virginia driver’s license
A. DMV-issued photo identification card
A valid U.S. passport
A valid employee photo identification card
Other government-issued photo identification card
A valid college or university student photo identification card from a institution of higher education located in Virginia
Registered voters who do not have an acceptable form of identification can contact the Orange County Registrar’s Office for a photo I.D. free of charge, Jenni said.
Virginia’s Republican-controlled legislature passed the new restrictions, claiming it is intended to curb voter fraud. Democrats complained that the law is a thinly veiled attempt to suppress voting among minorities and others who tend to vote Democratic.
Jenni was careful to make no comment on the politics surrounding the issue, but she said in response to a question that she is not aware of a single case of voter fraud in Orange County during her tenure here.
“It’s not clear to anyone exactly what the impact of the new requirements will be,” Jenni said.
She said no registered voter will be turned away from the polls on election day. Those who cannot meet the identification requirement will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot. If they can produce a valid identification at her office by noon on the Friday after the Nov. 4 election, their ballot will be counted.
Jenni said demand for the new photo I.D.s issued by her office has not been high. She said only four have been issued so far.
Jenni also explained that the ballot for the Nov. 4 election will be unusual in that candidates for the congressional seat will be listed twice on the ballot — once for a special election in which a candidate will be selected to fill the vacancy left when Rep. Eric Cantor resigned in July and once for the general election for the same seat for the term that begins in January 2015. This means that voters who support Jack Trammell for Congress must vote for him twice!
Janni said there are about 22,500 registered voters in Orange County eligible for the Nov. 4 election.
The Lake of the Woods Democratic Club will present a showing of the documentary film “Inequality for All” at 1:30 p.m. June 19 in the LOW Community Center.
The film, featuring economist, author and professor Robert Reich, secretary of Labor under the Clinton Administration, examines the widening gap in income in the United States — where the 400 richest Americans now own more wealth than the bottom 150 million combined — and its implications for our democracy and our nation.
Over the last thirty years, before the latest recession, the U.S. economy doubled. But, according to this documentary, these gains went to a very few: the top 1 percent of earners now take in more than 20 percent of all income—three times what they did in 1970. While this level of inequality poses a serious risk to all Americans, regardless of income level, much of the rhetoric on this subject has been fueled by anger and resentment from a frustrated middle class who feel their birthright – the American Dream – has been taken away from them.
The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking.
The public is invited to attend the screening, regardless of political affiliation. Popcorn and other refreshments will be served.
More information about the film and the topic of income inequeality is available at the following links:
