Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 06:28:17 -0700 (PDT) From: jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (Jessea NR Greenman) Subject: ACTION ALERT: May 16 US Senate"Parental Rights" Committee Vote || Merrimack (NH) School Board Meeting Report PARENTAL RIGHTS ACTION ALERT by Brian Gocial, People For the American Way (reposted with permission) In an effort to appease the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, and other far-right organizations, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight passed the "Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act" on April 17th. The bill will be voted on by the full Judiciary Committee on May 16, 1996. The "Parental Rights and Responsibilities" Act, part of the Christian Coalition*s Contract with the American Family, states that no federal, state or local government "shall interfere with or usurp the right of a parent to direct the upbringing of the child of the parent." Issues surrounding education, health and mental health, discipline, and religious teaching are only some of the areas in which suits could be brought against a government entity or government employee. Under this legislation, a single, right-wing activist could sue: - a librarian for placing a book about a controversial subject on the shelves; - a teacher for having a classroom discussion about Romeo and Juliet and suicide; - a school counselor for advising a child about drug abuse counseling; -a police officer for reporting a case of suspected child abuse; and a child protective service worker for investigating allegations of neglect. While proponents say that they are merely seeking a federal "opt out," the legislation requires that government action be suspended until the matter goes to court. This will keep children in abusive homes, pull books off of shelves and out of classrooms, and interrupt locally-designed curriculum for an entire classroom. ACTION: Call the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell them to oppose Senate Bill 984, the "Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act." Call your Senator's office, if you have the number and your Senator is a member of the Judiciary Comm. (lsit below) or call the Committee number below if you do NOT know your Senator's phone number. UNITED STATE CONGRESS Senate Committee Memberships 104th Congress 1995-96 JUDICIARY SD-224, Dirksen Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; (202) 224-5225 [you can leave messages here for all committee members] Republicans Democrats Joseph Biden Jr. (DE) Orrin Hatch (UT), Chmn. Edward M. Kennedy (MA) Strom Thurmond (SC) Patrick Leahy (VT) Alan Simpson (WY) Howell Heflin (AL) Charles Grassley (IA) Paul Simon (IL) Arlen Specter (PA) 202-224-4254 Herbert Kohl (WI) Hank Brown (CO) Dianne Feinstein (CA) Fred Thompson (TN) Russell Feingold (WI) Jon Kyl (AZ) Michael DeWine (OH) Spencer Abraham (MI) ================================================================ From: RLKottwitz@aol.com Date: Sat, 11 May 1996 09:40:52 -0400 Subject: Merrimack School Board Meeting Report Sorry everybody, I've been so involved with the campaigns and fact sheet ads that I forgot to send you a report from last Monday's board meeting. Again this time, it comes to you from Dave Markson's Religious Right in Merrimack page. Dave has added a second page specifically relating to next week's election with a lot of excellent information. Please visit him at URL: http://www.mv.com/ipusers/markson/school.html Here's his report on the meeting: 05/06/96 - Merrimack School Board Meeting: About 125 residents attended. This was Chairman Chris Ager's "last stand." He was applauded for standing up to continual attacks on his character, and then condemned for disregarding the public and labeling his critics as "depraved." Many Ager supporters got in line early and spoke about how wonderful Chairman Chris Ager has been since he was elected, and gave him a couple of gifts. Then there was an eight minute planned tribute to Ager. Many (non Ager believers) chose to walk out of the meeting during that portion of the meeting. Resident Even Fulmer presented Ager with the gag that he had been wearing since Ager restricted public comment at the meetings many months ago. Shelly Uscinski brought up a motion to send a copy of Policy 6540 and the guidelines to all parents in Merrimack. This passed 5-0. (Randy's comment: It's pretty clear that this was an election ploy and Shelly screwed up. The initial intention was that they'd send JUST the guidelines to the parents, NOT THE POLICY -- and get them out immediately (read: Before the election). The effect of that would have been to make the voters think the policy wasn't so bad because of the fuzzed language of the guidelines. After Shelly blew it and proposed that both the policy and the guidelines be sent in her motion, the majority of the board was willing to vote with Ken and Brenda to send them out with a survey that's to happen in a few weeks -- after the election.) At first I was confused why Ken Coleman and Brenda Grady chose to go along with this. But it really doesn't make any difference. If Rosemarie Rung gets elected, Policy 6540 as we know it will no longer exist, so there will be no need to send it to the parents. If Ginny Cadarette is elected, the current Conservative majority will hold, and Ken and Brendas vote will be meaningless. It is a moot point. Fundamentalist minister Dale Yancy spoke about the paper he handed out at the previous board meeting titled "Exposing the Myths of Homosexuality." Among other things, the paper attempted to say that homosexuals can free themselves from their lifestyle just like they can change their clothes. He repeated this at the meeting. The paper is not very believable. Funny, some of the references he mentions totally disagree with Yancy's stand. For instance, he mentions that there are "converters" (Randy - Read: Nicolosi et. al. with reparative therapy, etc.) that can free a homosexual from his/her lifestyle. He doesn't mention that in reality, they have only stopped in the physical sense. They are still homosexual. Finally, in one instance, it was found that this "converter" was actually having relationships with those he was trying to convert. That paints a much different picture than the one Yancy was trying to paint. Reflecting on the past year, the school board did have one very positive aspect. That was the school expansion plan. That is not due just to Ager however. (Randy - Indeed, he's been notorious for working against space plans behind the scenes while supporting them publically.) In fact, if the board was concentrating on the space issue right up front instead of all the non-issues, perhaps the additions would be happening now. One resident said that the space issue was solved and that people should be happy and stop thinking about it. (Randy - School Board candidate Ginny Cadarette has said in two interviews that she thinks the space problem is solved for 10-15 years!) The board (read Ager) directed the space needs committee to look out only three years. They were not allowed to look any further than that. The additions will barely be in operation in three years! That is not the pro-active, "find the problem before it exists" attitude that Chris Ager claimed when enacting Policy 6540. Drive around Merrimack, look at the number of new developments being built (read children), and the businesses that are coming to town. I hope the board keeps looking at space needs, and takes a long-term look at where the town is headed. Waiting till the last minute is very costly and does not make good business sense. Most of the meeting was quiet and went smoothly. Several items were discussed and voted on. The meeting lasted about 1 hour, 40 minutes. If it wasn't for the non-issues, the meeting might have taken about 45 minutes. Let's hope that this is where we are headed in the next year. We will know that answer on Tuesday, May 14th. The next board meeting is May 20th. END OF DAVE MARKSON'S REPORT Thanks for caring about Merrimack and Policy 6540! Randy Kottwitz *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ OK TO RE-POST. Jessea Greenman The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) CHECK THIS OUT FOR TONS OF INFO - - http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ Please cc us (for our files) on correspondence you send or receive re our action alerts.