From Jen Hensley, Sierra Club EPEC Coordinator for Iowa at
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I just wanted to make everyone aware of a caucus program that I have been
working on with several groups.  I would encourage any and all to attend.
 The dates for the workshops are:  Independence  Nov. 20th, Storm Lake
Dec. 4th and Ames Dec. 11th.  I have had San Francisco send me the
addresses of the listed activists in the state, and I will be sending a
letter and reply card to those individuals.  If you know of anyone that
is interested in attending any of these workshops please send me an
e-mail note at [log in to unmask] or leave a message at (515)277-8868 or
at (309) 736-1960.

This is being put on by a coalition which includes the Center for Rural
Affairs, Iowa Farmers Union, National Rural Catholic Life, Friends of
Rural America and the Sierra Club.  There is no one dominant
organization--we sat down and selected the criteria that we agree upon
and what is directly driving the consolidation of agriculture--which we
(Sierra Club) have worked on with CAFOs and with the Mississippi
navigation issue in Iowa.  I can invite as many people as I feel I need
to, but our goal is to really work with those members that are really
active and will actually follow up and attend the caucus.

I really think that we can get a good number of Sierra Club folks
involved in this project.  The political committee started meeting back
in June and have talked about having a caucus program based on water
quality--I think this can be a good start to their program.  In addition,
more and more club members are getting involved in the cafo issue.


If you have any other questions--just let me know.  Jen at
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> The Plan:

 In the morning from 8:00 to Noon we will be giving an overview of
 the issues.

        Corporate consolidation and what that has done to the small
         farmer and the environment--Jim Braun with Friends of Rural
America
>
        CAFOs and their impacts on water quality, air quality and public
health--Jen Hensley with Sierra Club

        Genetically Modified Organisms and their impact on the
environment--Bob
 Gronski with National Rural Catholic Life

        U.S. Farm Policy and the impacts that has on consolidation and the
small
farmer--Aaron Heily-Lehman with NFU

        Market Access and the impacts that agribusiness has on the small
farmer--John Crabtree with Center for Rural Affairs

        We will break for lunch from 12:00 to 12:45

In the afternoon we will be doing media training and a political segment.
  The media training is designed to teach folks to come up with sound
bites, how to write persuasive focused letters, develop relationships
with reporters and to deal with editorial visits.

The remainder of the afternoon Paul Crawford with NFU will be going over
what the caucus is, how to get involved and help set the platform of
your party, and what it entails to write a resolution.  During this
segment  there will be roll playing with each of the presenters being one
of the
presidential candidates.  As a candidate we are to misdirect the question
and give an answer that doesn't answer the question.  The purpose of  the
roll playing is to make people comfortable with asking questions as well
as trying to get them to be assertive and ask questions again when  they
are not answered to satisfaction.

 Through out the course of the day we will have butcher paper set up for
people to sign their name on.  We will have the following categories to
sign on to:  letters to the editor/candidates, candidate meetings,
broadcast media, and editorial board visits.  The goal is for people to
remain engaged after the workshop, but in the areas where their natural
talents lie and where they feel most comfortable.  The event organizers
have assigned themselves to a category and we will push people in our
groups to take action.

 By the end of the day and at the end of the role playing we will have a
better idea of the issues that we present that people really want to hit
upon.  At the end of the day all of us involved will sit down and write
resolutions which reflected the days activities and adjust the program
for the next time.

This is a bipartisan effort--so we encourage all to attend.

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