Lake of the Woods Democratic Club

Eileen Davis of Richmond, an advocate for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing gender equality, will speak to the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club on May 21.

Davis will describe efforts to gain ratification of the ERA in Virginia, one of only three additional states required to make the amendment part of the nation’s fundamental law.

The meeting will take place at 1:30 p.m. May 21 in the LOW Community Center. The public is welcome to attend, regardless of political affiliation.

Ms. Davis, a long-time activist for equality and social justice, is co-founder of Women Matter Use Your Power (women-matter.org).

She is a member of the coordination team advocating for ratification of the stalled Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia.

Ms. Davis is also part of the advocacy team visiting U.S. senators and representatives to secure passage of bills calling for removal of the deadline on the stalled bill, allowing for debate of this important civil rights legislation.

The Equal Rights Amendment states simply: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

The ERA was written in 1923 by Alice Paul, suffragist leader and founder of the National Woman’s Party. After women’s right to vote was guaranteed by the 19th Amendment in 1920, she proposed the ERA as the next step in confirming “equal justice under law” for all citizens. The ERA was introduced into every Congress between 1923 and 1972, when it was passed and sent to the states for ratification. The original seven-year time limit in the ERA’s proposing clause was extended by Congress to June 30, 1982, but at that deadline, the ERA had been ratified by 35 states, three states short of the 38 required to put it into the Constitution.

The ERA has been introduced into every Congress since 1982. Beginning in 1994 with introduction of the first three-state strategy bill in Congress, ERA advocates have been pursuing two different routes to ratification:

• the traditional process outlined in Article V of the Constitution, requiring passage by a two-thirds majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, followed by ratification by legislatures in three-quarters (38) of the 50 states, and
• ratification in three more of the 15 state legislatures that did not ratify the ERA during the 1972-82 ratification campaign, based on legal analysis that when three more states vote yes, this non-traditional process could withstand legal challenge and put the ERA into the Constitution.

To learn more, visit the Web sites listed here:

• Women-Matter.org
• The Equal Rights Amendment
• The New Women Warriors: Reviving the fight for women’s rights, CNN
• ERA Petition, The White House
• 2PassERA.org

Dr. Brenda Tanner, superintendent of Orange County Public Schools, spoke to The Lake of the Woods Democratic Club on April 16 on a wide variety of topics. The video below is a collection of clips from her talk.

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, 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.