PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

November 12, 2005

I want to thank all of the LWVBR members who have supported the work of the League of Women Voters of Baton Rouge by being dues paying members and attending as many of our events as your busy schedule allows.  I would also like to thank the LWV of Baton Rouge Board of Directors for their work this past year.  The LWVBR Members and the public are better informed and our community served because of your effort which you donate so graciously that sometimes your individual contributions go unnoticed but not unappreciated.  Together, the Members of the League of WoMen Voters of Baton Rouge are quite a force in our community.

As I look over the year, I realize that this past League year has been one of our more normal LWVBR years with activities for all who wish to participate and learn. August 28th changed all of that with Hurricane Katrina.  This next year, more than ever individuals need to be a member of the LWVBR as we, the political leadership and the citizens of Louisiana, explore how to recover, stabilize, regroup, grow and for Baton Rouge to become the vibrant city of its potential in what is now a now raged Gulf Coast region.  

We will need to do what the League of Women Voters does best:  Educate, Advocate, and Engage our Communities in a serious, non-partisan way to grow a political climate that will create the best environment for our families and future.  It is time to think about the ideas offered by all political parties and individuals and chose only the best; solution, study, offer our own solutions, divert the schemes that may appear good at the moment and look for the long term effect on our families, city, region, and country.  There are no quick fixes and it will take the steady unrelenting focus of the good people of Louisiana, the Gulf Coast, and the U.S. to seek out the best long-term solutions.

We are all Louisianians and Americans, who can do better.  The next few years will be very challenging for us all, but "We can" do it, if we all work together.  At the "Lunch With the League" yesterday, a member asked how do we keep the story of Katrina/Rita alive so that we can get the support we need and recover.   The answer was newspapers and television can not keep the story in the forefront of Americans' minds and hearts ---- that it was up to each of us to tell our story to everyone we know.  The redevelopment of our region is the same way, we can't leave it to someone else, it is up to each of us to do our part in rebuilding and refocusing this city, state, and region to be the community of our dreams.   We have all heard The South shall rise again, well, folks, this is our opportunity for all of our citizens working together to will build a better and more informed Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and United States. If there was ever a time to say, "We are all in this together!!!"  that time is now to do it is NOW!

 Thank you for the opportunity to serve as president of the LWV of Baton Rouge and always . . .

Share the Spirit of League,
Jean Armstrong, president
LWV of Baton Rouge
For the period of FY 2004-2005