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Campaigns Meetings

The club gets behind Sen. Houck’s re-election

Houck bumpersticker

Heyward Whetsell, field director for Sen. Edd Houck’s campaign for re-election, reported to the LOW Democratic Club at its May 19 meeting and asked for members’ help in keeping Sen. Houck at work in the State Senate.

Club members responded enthusiastically, signing the senator’s candidacy petition and signing up to work phone banks, put up campaign signs and offering to organize a campaign event on his behalf.

Mr. Whetsell said the campaign plans personal contacts with 49,457 voters in the 17th District, targeting not just the Democratic base, but reaching out to consistent persuadable voters and “gubernatorial Democrats,” Democratic voters who don’t habitually vote in off-year elections.

“Reaching out to these groups is the name of the game,” Mr. Whetsell said.

He said Sen. Houck had benefitted from the recent redistricting. He lost some of Culpeper County, but retains the city of Culpaper. The percentage of Republican voters in the newly aligned district has dropped from 67 percent to 60 percent, he said.

Mr. Whetsell said the senator will make appearances at the club’s annual Flag Day Membership Picnic on June 15 at Sweetbriar Park and  in the Fourth of July parade in LOW. In addition, the club is planning to hold an event in LOW to permit voters to meet the senator. Plans for the event will be announced later.

The Houck campaign recently opened a district office at 10813 Courthouse Road, Suite 104, in Fredericksburg, off Va. 208. More information is available at Sen. Houck’s Web site.

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Meetings

Popcorn and a movie … just for fun

A scene from “The Debate”

Need a break from the silliness and downright rudeness that gets passed off as presidential politics these days? Join us for a movie and some popcorn.

The LOW Democratic Club’s next meeting on May 19 will feature a screening of the Nov. 6, 2005, episode of the Emmy Award-winning series “The West Wing,” written by Lawrence O’Donnell Jr.

The show simulates a live presidential debate between fictional Democratic candidate Matthew Santos (played by Jimmy Smits) and fictional Republican candidate Arnold Vinick (played by Alan Alda). During the hour-long debate, the two candidates cover a variety of topics, including immigration reform, job creation and health insurance reform

Take special note: The May 19 meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the Community Center meeting room rather than the club’s regular meeting place at the Woods Center.

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Meetings

Steering Committee Meeting

May Steering Committee Meeting will be held at 2 p.m. at Lois Powell’s home at 417 Birdie Road.

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Meetings

May Club Meeting

The May Club meeting. Program to be announced.

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In the News Meetings

Agriculture is growing in Orange County

“Agriculture is a very large industry in Orange County,” Agricultural Extension Agent Steve Hopkins told the LOW Democratic Club at its meeting on April 21. “And it’s getting bigger.”

Mr. Hopkins and Kaci Daniel, 4-H Extension agent, gave club members an overview of local agriculture and described the wide variety of services that the Cooperative Extension Service provides to farmers, gardeners, homemakers and young people.

Extension Agents Steve Hopkins and Kaci Daniel

In terms of sales, Orange has the seventh largest agricultural economy of Virginia’s 100 counties.

The largest agricultural enterprise in the county is the nursery and greenouse industry, Mr. Hopkins said. Two large nursery operations — Battlefield Farms and American Color — helped nurseries overtake cattle raising as the top agricultural enterprise locally.

Total farms in the county are up 9 percent in the past five years, while the acreage devoted to farming is up 4 percent. Receipts from crops increased an impressive 163 percent during that period.

Ms. Daniel reminded her audience that farmers are not the only citizens who benefit from Extension Service programs. She cited education programs on nutrition, health, fitness, personal finance, food preservation, consumer skills, restaurant food safety, landscaping and youth development, including the ever popular 4-H Clubs.

The speakers distributed a valuable summary of the current state of agriculture in Orange County. More information about the Extension Service is available online at the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service Web site.

The Extension Service’s programs in Virginia are based at the Commonwealth’s two land-grant universities, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and Virginia State University in Petersburg.