T HE R EDWOOD A LERT

E UREKA R EPUBLICAN W OMEN F EDERATED , SINCE 1938

Serving the Republican Women of Humboldt County

V OLUME 33, I SSUE 1 J ANUARY 2008

Joy Finley, President · Margaret Stafford, Program Chair

Please attend our first meeting of 2008:

Thursday, January 17

Financial expert Todd Walker will be guest speaker on the Fair

Tax at our January luncheon meeting of the Eureka Republican
Women at the Eureka Red Lion, 1929 Fourth Street. His
background includes extensive experience as a chief financial
officer, controller and as a teacher of accounting at both Fresno
State and other national universities.
Buffet Lunch ~ $14.50 Beverage Only ~ $6.00 Eureka
Buffet lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and the meeting opens at Noon. If not
contacted by our Telephone committee, please call Margaret Stafford at
Republican
822-3255 to make a reservation. Members’ guests and interested persons Women
are welcome. Federated
A reservation made is a reservation paid. 70th
Anniversary
P RESIDENT ’ S M ESSAGE J OY F INLEY
1938-2008
BY

Happy New Year!!! I find it was present at our last year.

so hard to believe that 2007 is
history. We have a primary on
February 5th this year and it
promises to be an exciting
time.
Our January 17th meeting
will feature Mr. Todd Walker
who will explain the “Fair
Tax”. Many of you know
ERWF member Debbie
Walker. Her husband, Todd,
meeting. He is a passionate
I want to thank Eileen
speaker and I’m sure you will
Amos for all the direction and
enjoy the topic.
help she has been for many
We have some new years. As you may know her
members on the board this husband, Gordie, retired and
year. If anyone wants to help they have moved to their new
with Ways and Means, please home in the country.
contact me. I love doing it but
I hope to see you at the Red
need help selling tickets. Kay
Lion on January 17th and bring
Peake has been wonderful to
a friend!
step in and help me this past
P AGE 2 T HE R EDWOOD A LERT

M ARK Y OUR C ALENDARS ‘08

Jan Thurs 17 ERWF Luncheon Meeting
Mon 21 Last Day to Register to Vote
Feb Tues 5 Primary Election
Mon 18 Presidents’ Day
Thurs 21 ERWF Luncheon Meeting
Mar Fri 14 ERWF Tea
Sun 23 Easter
Apr Thurs 17 ERWF Luncheon Meeting
Sat 26 Rhododendron Parade
MORE IMPORTANT DATES
• CFRW 33rd Advocacy Workshop and Spring 2008 Board of Directors’ Meeting, Hyatt
Regency at Capitol Park, Sacramento, April 20-22, 2008
• CFRW 34th Advocacy Workshop and Spring 2009 Board of Directors’ Meeting, Hyatt
Regency at Capitol Park, Sacramento, May 3-5, 2009.

L EGISLATIO N A LERT BY B ARBARA H ECATHORN

Reminder: Members that Prop 91: Transportation Prop 93: Limits on
THE have moved or know
someone who needs to
Funds—a constitutional
amendment that somewhat
Legislature’s terms in office

PRIMARY register, Monday, January 21 duplicates Prop 1A passed in

is the last day you can register
ELECTION to vote for the February 5th
IS Primary Election. Along with
voting for the candidate of
FEBRUARY our choice, there are several
initiatives on the ballot.
5TH.
11/06. Prop 94, 95, 96 & 97:
Prop 92: California
Initiatives that allow 4 Indian
Communit y College funding
casinos to build Las Vegas
style super casinos.
governance and fees - Fiscal
impact, reduces student fees
while mandates additional
spending without identifying
how to pay for it.

T HOUGHTS F ROM Y OUR C HAPLAIN BY V EE S ORENSON

I read recently the thoughts of
a football player as he stood
on the sideline preparing for a
game. He shared how the
blazing white lights from
lamps high overhead gleamed
off the helmets around him.
He would look into the eyes
of his teammates and his heart
would begin to burn.
There was something about
standing within the ranks of a
team that can infuse a person
with courage. To look
around you and see an ally
wearing the same colors,
brings strength, even when
you look across the filed to
giants on the other team. By
yourself this can be
intimidating. It is far better
to look at those beside you.
Those on the same team.
Living in the political climate
of Humboldt County can be
intimidating, but let us look
to each other as teammates
this coming year and together
we can make a difference Let
us lift up our adversaries in
prayer and do what we can to
influence others to do what is
right for our country. A team
that enters the game with
purpose and resolve is the
kind of team that wins
championships. Let us
become a group of prayerful
women whom our adversaries
shudder to see standing tall
on the other side of the field.
V OLUME 33, I SSUE 1 P AGE 3

2008 B OARD OF D IRECTORS R EGION XIII N EWS

Position NAME Phone e-mail BY P ATRICIA W ELCH
President Joy Finley 845-2575 joyfinley@suddenlink.net CFRW Northern Division
1st V-President Margaret Stafford 822-2383 tom-marg@suddenlink.net Region XIII Director

2nd V-President Barbara Hecathorn 442-7124 Hecathorn@aol.com I will be attending the Northern
Rec.Secretary Terry Roberts 599-3255 terryroberts@coldwellbanker
Division Leadership workshop in
Fairfield on January 5. I was hoping
Treasurer Cindy Lewis 442-1187 liberty741776@sbcglobal.net that a more from our Club would
Director at Large Margaret Stafford 822-2383 tom-marg@suddenlink.net have attended; look for a report in
the February edition of the Redwood
Auditor JoAnn Stanhope 822-4776 jstanhope@suddenlink.net Alert
Parliamentarian Lynda Pozel 443-1283 lynda@hopkinsportrait.com
Americanism Chris Wennerholm 725-2020 chris500@suddenlink.net Please mark the following dates on
your calendars:
Bulletin Scrappers Edge 445-9686 scrappersedge@sbcglobal.net
Hospitality Haline Sundet 442-2623 • CFRW Winter Conference:
Advertising Joy Finley 845-2575 joyfinley@suddenlink.net January 18-20 at the Sheraton
Stockton at Regent’s Pointe in
Mailing Haline Sundet 442-2623 Stockton . One of the featured
Chaplain Vee Sorensen 822-2359 veesign@aol.com speakers will be Christine
Commentary Colleen Hedrick 268-0101 colleen1516@suddenlink.net
Oster, the NFRW Finance
Director. She will be speaking
Education Sherly Fearrien 725-6200 schoolmarm50@sbcglobal.ne our financial responsibilities as a
Legislation Barbara/Vee 442-7124 hecathorn@aol.com 527 political organization.
Luncheons Joy Finley 845-2575 joyfinley@suddenlink.net
• CFRW Northern Division
Spring Conference: April 4-5 at
Membership Barbara Hecathorn 442-7124 hecathorn@aol.com Jackson Rancheria Hotel and
Name Tags DeloresTheuerakauf 822-5090 erniet@humboldt1.com Confere nce Cente r i n
Jackson . Room rates are $99.
Publicity Paula Cunningham 443-9685 nooage@pacbell.net • CFRW Advocacy Workshop:
Telephone Chair Linda Arata 839-5054 jaratal@msn.com April 21-22, Sacramento ; more
Cheryl Brown 839-4263 information will be coming at a
later date.
Jeannette Cruz 442-1852
WillieMcCarthy 443-9935 I would strongly encourage you all
to attend these workshops and
Connie Mortensen 725-5837 conferences; they help you to learn
Sharon Omey 443-0462 more about the Federation, develop
Terry Roberts 599-3255 and hone new skills, and give you a
chance to make new friends.
Ruth Schnell 444-8579
Irene Schultz 822-9056
Pat Stotte 725-4031
Debbie Walker 441-1126
Ways & Means Joy Finley 845-2575 joyfinley@suddenlink.net
Webmaster Bill Odonnell 442-4117 ERWF@odonnell.ws

The Redwood Alert

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To assist Sondra, please submit newsletter contributions as Word documents or as text in an email.
P AGE 4
N EWS FROM H UMBOLDT GOP
Happy New Year! The next
week will be very interesting
as the caucuses take place in
Iowa and New Hampshire and
we are just 4 weeks out from
our primary on February
5th. Given the diverse field
and no clear front runner, the
candidates must be concerned
with amassing delegates. The
total number of Republican
delegates needed to win the
nomination is 1259. These
will begin to be amassed over
the next few weeks as the
e a r l y p r i m a r i e s ta k e
place. These early primaries
are really about building
momentum as we move to
Florida (57 delegates) and
then to Tsunami Tuesday,
February 5th where there are
982 delegates at stake.
Everyone should keep there
eye on the Florida Primary
which is on January 29th; it
could be the key to our
nominee. It is going to be a
wild ride—stay tuned.
A MERICANISM R EPORT
I received the following
Christmas card and wanted to
share it with you. Somebody
got it right!
“To All My Democrat Friends:
“Please accept with no obligation,
implied or implicit, my best
wishes for an environmentally
conscious, socially responsible,
low-stress, non-addictive, gender-
neutral celebration of the winter
solstice holiday, practiced within
the most enjoyable traditions of
the religious persuasion of your
choice, or secular practices of
BY
The next meeting of the
Humboldt County
Republican Party will be
Thursday, January 10th, 6 PM
at O H’s Townhouse. Dinner
is available for an optional
cost of $20. We have an
exciting year ahead and we
will need your help!
Several of the campaigns are
seeking volunteers to make
phone calls from now until
the Primary Election on
February 5th. If you are
interested in making calls for
your candidate, please call me
and I will get you script and a
list to call.
We are also planning a pre-
primary party on February
4th. Please watch your mail
a nd em ail f or mo re
information, as we are still
putting together the details.
I am seeking volunteers to
BY C HRIS W ENNERHOLM
your choice, with respect for the
religious/secular persuasion and/
or traditions of others, or their
choice not to practice religious or
secular traditions at all.
“I also wish you a fiscally
successful, personally fulfilling
and medically uncomplicated
recognition f the onset of the
generally accepted calendar year
2008, but not without due
respect for the calendars of choice
of other cult ures whose
contributions to society have
helped make America great. Not
T HE R EDWOOD A LERT
P ATRICIA W ELCH
man a voter registration
booth at Humboldt State on
Wednesday, January 30th with
shifts available from 9 AM
until 5 PM.
On an optimistic note,
according to a new poll (Dec
31), 34. 2 percent of
Americans c onsi dered
themselves Republicans in
December, up nearly 2
percent from a month earlier,
according to the latest
Rasmussen Reports party
trends tracking survey. This
means that there seems to be
a surge in people identifying
t h e m s e l v e s a s
‘republican.’ This is good
news for us.
Please feel free to call me any
ti m e w i th qu e s ti o n s ,
suggestions or concerns. I
can be reached at 707-227-
6562.
to imply that America is
necessarily greater than any other
country nor the only America in
the Western Hemisphere.
“Also, this wish is made without
regard to the race, creed, color,
age, physical ability, religious
faith or sexual preference of the
wishee.”
** ** ** ** ** **
“To My Republican Friends:
“Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year!”
** ** ** ** ** **
V OLUME 33, I SSUE 1
B REAK O UT A N EW D ECK
BY C OLLEEN H EDRICK
It’s time to consider the New
Year and what kind of citizens
we propose to be in 2008. As
members of Eureka Republican
Women Federated (ERWF) we
have committed to being well
informed on candidates, issues,
and purposes in public life.
That’s fine for openers but it
sure takes more than that to stay
in the game.
If we gather information and
form a reasoned opinion that’s
worth advancing and defending
it’s not realistic to just ponder
that in solitude, talk to those of
the same opinion, and go in the
voting booth to cast our votes.
We need to stand up and be
counted in the public forum
(letters to the editors) and to
those persons who function as
employees of our government at
all levels.
Currently there’s an issue that
truly begs for action. This year’s
$555 billion omnibus spending
bill was approved in just two
days although the document ran
more than 3,400 pages and
contained almost 10,000
earmarks (that’s PORK baby—
pure old cheatin’. theivin’, down
to the wire congressional Pork)
E DUCATION R EPORT
Hope everyone had a wonderful
Christmas! Ours was with all
our sons home and the whole
family together!
Something interesting happened
that left us scratching our
heads . . . We attended our
church Christmas party where
we played the pirate game.
(Everyone brings a wrapped
gift, draws a number, and
proceed to choose a gift from
the wrapped ones or take on
from someone who had already
chosen it.) As always, several
gifts were favorites with the
crowd and one of those prized
gifts, a beautiful little expresso/
latte coffee maker, ended up
FOR THE
and it’s purposely designed to
stack the cards to put members
of congress back in office.
A call to Representative
Thompson’s office brought
protests supporting benefits
garnered for this area. Possibly
they’re completely valid but if
those and other such regional
benefits are worthwhile do the
honest thing and put them in
separate bills instead of slipping
them in last ditch, inread
legislation that it is imperative to
pass in order to fund the
troops.
We watched Republicans lose
control of congress last election
due primarily to public disgust
with out of control congressional
spending. Since that time many
of us have been turning down
Republi can requests for
campaign contributions with a
message to stop the rip off
spending. It seems the message
should resonate. But apparently
most of these high rollers feel
they have aces up their sleeves
that make them immune to voter
outrag e si nce only 14-
Republicans did not support this
sneaky deal. If they want to
continue to be the minority
BY S HERYL F EARRIEN
with our son, Bret. Being the
curious guy he is, Bret turned
the box over and read aloud
what was printed on the
bottom. It stated:
“Made in China.
Warning: this product
contains lead and other
chemicals known to the
state of California as
causing cancer, birth
d e f e c t s , a nd other
reproductive harm. Wash
hands after use.”
That brought laughs from the
crowd. We were not surprised
it had been made in China, like
nearly everything else is these
P AGE 5
N EW Y EAR
they’re sure pushing the right
buttons. We should be able to
look at their voting record and
know if they’re Republicans of
Democrats.
There’s a high stakes need for
citizens to demonstrate strong
willingness to call their bluff.
Fax, write, email, telephone
their offices and protest. Ask
your friends, family, co-workers
and neighbors to contact their
representative’s offices. Today I
called the White House to ask
for a presidential stop on
earmarks. I placed calls to both
senators and to our
representative. It took only a
few minutes. By itself that
doesn’t amount to much but if
even one third of our ERWF
membership also picked up their
phones it seems likely those
offices might be convinced
Humboldters are concerned with
whether the hands are being
dealt under or above the table?
When Women Work We Win.
If you do nothing you have
absolutely no right to complain
and any conservative woman
knows it’s our God given right
and responsibility to watch the
deal and complain if we don’t
like the way the cards fall
days. We were surprised that
the warning was so bold. I
guess it is to protect the
company in case of lawsuits. So
there you have it . . . First
China poisoned our pets with
cat and cog food, next they
poisoned our children with
lead-laced paint in toys, and not
it’s the adults’ turn. Lead
causes brain damage and a lead
poisoned country should be
fairly easy to overtake . . .
Remember the fall of the
Roman Empire? Lead in their
water system played a part!
P.S. Walgreens gave Bret a
refund and were they ever
surprised too!
P AGE 6 T HE R EDWOOD A LERT

TREASURER’S REPORT
Balance 10/19/07 $4,522.12
Income 906.00
Expenses 2,516.14
Balance 12/31/07 $2911.98
- Cindy Lewis
V OLUME 33, I SSUE 1 P AGE 7

Bella Baskets
Gourmet Gifts & More
412 2nd St. Eureka, CA 95501
707-444-2823 or 877-445-0152
ordergifts@bella-baskets.com
www.bella-baskets.com

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 Ways & Means by Joy Finley
January is usually our “White Elephant” sale but this year Margaret Stafford donated her “Americana” collection. It is a
wonderful collection! I think you will be impressed.
At our last meeting, we collected $190.00, thanks to Kay Peake. Thanks again to Norman’s Dry Cleaning for the gift
certificate, Margaret Stafford for the Baker’s dozen, and Sun Valley Floral Farms for the lilies. Remember, your support is vital
to our club.

www.EurekaRepublicanWomen.com
The Redwood Alert PRESORTED
Eureka Republican Women, Federated STANDARD
c/o Barbara Hecathron U.S. POSTAGE
4389 Campton Rd Eureka, CA 95503
PAID

Return Service Requested EUREKA, CA

95501
PERMIT NO. 60

M EMBERSHIP R EPORT BY B ARBARA H ECATHORN

It’s a new year, welcome aboard 2008. Membership dues statements went out the first of January, so you should have received it by now.
If not, you can use the form below. You will note that basic dues have increased to $20.00 this year due to National’s increase to us. I
would like to stress the importance of including your email address if you have one. We ended 2007 with 32 new members for a total of
246. We should be able to grow our membership in this 2008 election year if we all ask our friends, neighbors and/or relatives to join us
at our monthly meeting to see what we are all about. If you have ideas bout reaching out to new members, please share them. Look
forward to seeing you at the January 17th meeting.

ERWF Membership Application Form

Name_______________________________________________________________________________________
Address_____________________________________________________________________________________
Phone (#1)____________________________ Phone (#2)____________________________
Email________________________________ Email bulletins: ___ Yes ___ No
Meeting Notices: ___ Email -OR- ___ Phone
Membership Dues $20.00 ___ Renew -OR- ___ New
Membership Plus $25.00 (Sustaining)
Associate $20.00 (Men, youth -18 yrs or member of another Republican group)
I would like to make an additional donation of $________
2008 Gift Membership for:
Name_______________________________________________________________________________________
Address_____________________________________________________________________________________
Phone (#1)____________________________ Email____________________________
Please complete the form and mail your check payable to ERWF to:
Barbara Hecathorn, 4389 Campton Road, Eureka, CA 95503